Although domestic livestock has not been pas- 
tured in the woods or brushland on the area since 
about 1941, palatable trees and shrubs within 
teach of deer have suffered severely from over- 
browsing, figs. 16 and 17. This area has, for 
many years, supported the highest deer concentra- 
tion in northern Illinois. 
Nearly 18 years ago, the late Aldo Leopold 
noted the high level of the deer population in the 
Rockford area. In an unpublished report dated 
October 15, 1936, he wrote as follows to Harry D. 
Colman, then owner of the land now known as the 
Funderburg estate: “There are already plenty of 
I saw 15 and 25 per 
deer for pleasure purposes: 
wt 
tonmtnne wnduagel 
Fig. 15. -- Browse line on deciduous 
trees in an area heavily populated by deer of 
the Rock River range. 
Fig. 16. -- Severe deer damage to white 
pine on the Rock River range. 
18 
day with no effort to keep quiet.” He noted that 
“Mr. Severson saw forty deer at one time two years 
ago.” 
Although Leopold considered the deer popu- 
lation very high, he saw no evidence of over- 
browsing of winter food plants. He warned, how- 
ever, that a further increase in the numbers of 
deer would endanger both the range and the herd. 
He based this belief partly on the assumption that 
there was no opportunity for geographic spread. 
Following an inspection about a year later, 
Leopold wrote to Colman in an unpublished report 
dated September 21, 1937, that he experienced 
“the distinct impression that browsing is heavier 
Fig. 17. -- Another example of severe deer damage 
to white pine on the Rock River range. 
