A fence had to be erected around a little patch of it at Valley Forge National Historical Park to keep it from disappearing. It has already been lost from a couple of other sites where I knew it to grow in the past. This is a case where this plant is not going to be driven to extinction by deer feeding on it in Pennsylvania, because it occurs south of our state in greater abundance. It just reaches Pennsylvania. Because we are at the northern limit of its natural range, we probably have represented in the populations in our state an important part of the overall genetic diversity of this species.
Native yew is favored winter browse species, it is an evergreen conifer.
Conifers don't take well to having their leaves stripped off. They do not tolerate that for very long. Native yew has disappeared in many parts of Pennsylvania. I see it mostly in a few refugia that are rocky or very steep, places where deer can not get at it very easily. Deer seek out this plant when it is in flower.