Natural Resources Board approves changes to Deer Management Assistance Program

The Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) is a program through the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that helps private land owners to manage their property for deer and other wildlife. Enrollees in the program have three tiers, based on the number of acres a property owner is enrolling in the program. The program began in 2013 and since then has continued to grow to over 505,000 acres enrolled in the program statewide.

The DMAP program was put in place to help with deer herd management on private lands across the state. The program also provides a great deal of deer herd data that is added to public land data. The program also helps to improve relationships between the public and the department while providing a high return on investment as far as management.

Enrollees into the program are placed in levels based on the amount of acreage they are enrolling, but the program is open to all land owners. Cooperators in level one are those who enroll any number of acres, but who do not have a fee and receive limited resources for managing their lands such as no site visit by a forester and biologist and no reduced price antlerless tags. Level two cooperators are those enrolling 160-640 acres, and level three cooperators enroll 640 acres or more.

This month, Haley Frater, DMAP private lands team leader for the DNR spoke to the Natural Resources Board (NRB) regarding some proposed changes to the program. In April 2024, the Natural Resources Board (NRB) approved the statement of scope for a revamp of the DMAP structure.

A public review period was held, with both written and oral comments taken from the public. Outlines of proposed changes were sent to the over 3,000 DMAP cooperators enrolled in the program, conservation organizations and hunting organizations around the state as well as with public land managers.

There was a full review of the DMAP program in 2023, including focus groups, member surveys and data analysis. Frater said there were three recurring themes in this review. Those were increase customization, partnership and delivery efficiency.

One of the items on which the revision needed to focus was changing the structure or the program itself by allowing cooperators to customize when and what services they would receive. This could be done by separating program membership from on-site services. This would not only increase customization for cooperators, but also efficiency for DNR staff involved in the on-site visits and programming. Currently, Frater said, all DMAP enrollees with 160 acres or more receive the same services on the same timeline, whether they are needed or necessarily desired by the enrollee. 

By uncoupling enrollment from on-site services, this offers cooperators more flexibility in electing the benefits they would like to receive. With that said, this also increases staff efficiency, as they are then only dedicating their time to on-site tasks that have the most value for each land owner. 

Currently, level one members receive access to the DMAP educational resources, which include workshops, a monthly eNews letter, and other various resources. Those enrolled in levels two and three, also get a site visit by a biologist and a forester, a management plan is created to help the land owner achieve their goal, and reduced price antlerless tags are issued where applicable. These are benefits given to cooperators with every three year enrollment cycle. In the case of many cooperators who have enrolled previously, while they may not need or want some of these services, the program, as it has been laid out, would still provide those services to the land owner. 

With the new proposed plan for DMAP, Frater said, enrollment into the program would be separated from all of those services. Elected benefits would have their own fee related to that benefit, but not all benefits would need to be selected by each cooperator. For instance, if a cooperating land owner wanted only antlerless tags, then a DNR biologist could do a site visit and determine whether to issue those tags based on the land owner’s goals for the property, but they would not need to write a full management plan, nor would that necessitate an on-site visit by a forester. 

Frater explained the new fee schedule under DMAP as well. Using output from their planning group, and combining that with input from the public, the determination was made to set the membership fee for the program at $50. Elective benefits, when selected, would then be based on the size of the property as well as previous enrollment in the program. Her graphic explained that elective benefits for those with 40-160 acres would be $150. For properties of 160-640 acres, the fee would be $200, and elective benefits for properties over 640 acres would be $250. There would a reduced price for repeat visits to the same property.

Under DMAP currently, cooperators must have at least 160 acres to qualify for on-site benefits. Data reporting is encouraged but not required. The changes would mean that all cooperators enrolling 40 acres or more. Reporting would then be mandatory in order for a cooperator to continue to receive those benefits. 

Frater said that, under the new guidelines, all individuals electing for the added benefits would receive a site visit with a biologist and a forester, a written management plan and recommendations, and a property assessment for antlerless tags. In order to continue to receive those antlerless tags, cooperators would need a site visit once every three years. They would also need to report their annual deer harvests and observations. They would also need to have a site visit once every three years, but only from a biologist. A forester would not need to be involved in these visits. Those who qualify would receive half-priced antlerless tags. 

Those interested in a follow-up habitat visit, they would need to wait at least three years and also report the management activities they had achieved in those three years since they enrolled in the program. They would then receive a site visit with both a biologist and also, if the land owner wishes, a forester. Those individuals would then also provide the land owner with written management recommendations.

Over and above the benefits to landowners in DMAP, Frater said, there are other benefits as well. The program allows the department to access lands it may not otherwise be able to access. This can help in managing the deer herd and even in areas such as fighting invasive species. Department staff has also helped to stop practices that may increase the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD), she said. DMAP also helps to improve the perception of the department with hunters and the public in general.

The board voted unanimously to approve the changes to the DMAP plan.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].