HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — The National Park Service is giving its approval to a plan that would have government sharpshooters kill more than 2,800 white-tailed deer at three Civil War battlefields in Maryland and Virginia over the next five years.

The agency announced its decision Tuesday on the plan to curb damage to plants and trees at the Antietam and Monocacy (mah-NAH’-kah-see) battlefields in Maryland and the Manassas battlefield in Virginia.