evidence: Porcupines are mobile and continually reinvade control areas. Complete control is not desirable since it would require complete removal of porcupines. Try to limit lethal porcupine control to individual animals causing damage by fencing and management of the plant species. In areas of high porcupine populations, plant ornamentals that are not preferred foods. Intensive predator control may encourage porcupine population increases. Thinned forest stands are vulnerable to porcupine damage because lower vegetation can thrive. Porcupine populations are usually lower in closed canopy stands where understory vegetation is scant. Fencing small tree plantings, orchards, and gardens is effective in reducing porcupine damage. Electric fences are effective when the smooth electric wire is placed 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) above 18-inch-high (46-cm) poultry wire. A 4- to 6-inch (10- to 15-cm) electric fence can be enhanced by painting molasses on the wire. Porcupines will climb fences, but an overhanging wire strip around the top of the fence at a 65o angle to the upright wire will discourage them.