State wildlife officials outline statewide deer plan, seek local input in Del Norte County

Sean Freeze, North Coast lands and wildlife program supervisor for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the Del Norte County Fish and Game advisory commission that the department is preparing a statewide Deer Conservation and Management Plan intended to provide a “modern science‑based framework to guide the conservation and management of California’s deer.”

Freeze described the plan as a high-level, adaptive‑management document that will organize the state into 11 deer conservation units (DCUs) aligned with hunt‑zone boundaries so strategies can be tailored regionally. The plan will rely on an Integrated Population Model (IPM) that combines multiple data streams — genetic (DNA) transects, GPS collars, camera traps and aerial surveys using helicopters, fixed wing aircraft and drones — to produce baseline abundance estimates and annual trend monitoring for each DCU.

"We will make decisions based on monitoring and research and adjust as conditions change," Freeze said, describing the shift from earlier reliance on hunter‑harvest and road‑survey data to a broader…