Transcript Deer Management on Fire Island, NY

Deer Management on
Fire Island, NY
By: Kendall Brunette, Chad Johnson, Alyssa
Hernandez, Mark Leopold, Kelley McCrudden,
Pelle Rudstam
What’s the Problem?
-An overabundance of deer on Fire Island has led to hundreds of thousands of
dollars in property damage.
-The deer also have become the main host for ticks on the island, which are a
vector for Lyme disease.
-Many residents feel that managing the deer population will lead to a reduction in
instances of Lyme disease on the island and cut down on property damage.
-However, constant head butting between the island’s residents and between the
residents and the Park Service has made any sort of management difficult.
Vegetation
• Sunken Forest is a maritime
holly forest in old growth
state
• Vegetation impacts are most
dramatic in SF
• Trees act as anchors for windblown sand; essential to the
stability of barrier island
systems
• Browsing on the herb layer
• Lack of regeneration of
canopy tree species since
about 1970 coincides with the
initiation of the deer
population eruption
http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/images/Deer-eating.jpg
Early Studies
http://www.swfwc.usace.army.mil/georgetown/images/gtwn%20images/images/D
eerFeedingWisconsin2.JPG
• Studies in 1966 and 1985
to assess the impacts of
deer browsing
• Fenced off experimental
plots
• Results were inconclusive
due to small sample size
• By the second growing
season, herb-cover inside
deer exclosures
increased by about 50%
• Since 1985, density of
dominant shrubs has
increased dramatically
inside fenced plots
Latest Studies
• Permanent plots were relocated and resurveyed
in 1999:
1. Assess the change in the structure and composition of the SF from
1967 to 2003
2. Describe the age structure of the SF
3. Analyze the vegetation-environment relationship of the SF
4. Measure the availability of seed source within the SF
• What needs to be done and when to regenerate
canopy tree species?
• Recruitment events?
Public Feeding
• Outreach activities:
-bumper stickers
-informative brochures
-speaking engagements to end-user groups
-voluntary pledge drives for island service
personnel and contractors
-daily education/enforcement patrols
-activities for primary school-aged children
http://www.gardengrapevine.com/DeerFeedingRxBC-K6277.jpg
Immunocontraception
• Female deer creates antibodies toward its
own eggs
• Eggs released from the ovary are attacked by
ZP antibodies which block potential
fertilization sites for sperm
• Deer population has declined by almost 50%
since 1998
Population Trends
• Hard to adequately estimate the deer population
• Aerial analysis is currently the best option
• Initial estimates of deer density indicated about 80
deer/km2 in most communities during 1995
• Deer abundance has stabilized along western Fire Island
• Remains high in the mid-island communities
Lyme Disease
• An infectious disease, its vector is generally
black legged ticks or deer ticks.
• Animals do not carry the disease, but carry
the ticks that spread the disease to humans.
• The disease can be spread after two or more
days of feeding
• 70% of all people are bitten in their own
yards.
• At earlier stages the symptoms include rash
and flu-like symptoms
• Nearly 150 million people are currently
infected or have been infected
(world-wide)
Life Cycle
• Takes place over the course of 2 years,
beginning with the larval stage.
• Ticks are born and feed off of white-footed
mouse, who are the original hosts of the
disease.
• Inactive till spring
• Molt into Nymphs
• Nymphs feed on small mammals
• Molt into adults
The Risk
• Medical
-The majority of infections
are spread by ticks in their
nymph stages
-Only 20% of individuals
infected with Lyme Disease
notice their deer tick bite
-Lyme disease is also known
as the “great imitator”
• Financial
- Lyme Disease costs on
average $61,688.00 per year,
per patient.
Auto-Related Injury
• Highest rate of car accidents
occur at dawn and dusk.
• 92 % of all deer are killed in
the accidents
• Annual:
-1.5 million car accidents
with deer
-vehicle damage costs: $1
billion
-nearly 150 human fatalities
-10,000 personal injuries
-human injury costs of
$1,002,401
Actions Thus Far
• Federal treatment
research has cost over
$30 million plus $22
billion for military biodefense.
• Success Stories:
-Monhegan Island, Maine
-Mumford Cove, CT
-Great Island, Mass
http://www.jmorrow.com/images/Last-Light-Over-Monhegan.jpg
Management
Stage 1: 1995-2005
• Failed management hunt
by the Park Service.
• Head-butting led to slow
adoption of strategies.
• Well-educated, rich
residents have more
power than most
communities in getting
their way. “Forget about
doing anything
controversial.”
Head-butting. Get it?
Management, cont.
What does Madonna
have to do with deer?
• How can we enact
management in an area
where residents are
completely divided?
• Finally,
immunocontraception
developed as a tool to
help control population.
“Just a tool.”
• Effective to a degree.
Leave it to the locals.
• Residents have to deal with the deer, let them
decide what they want.
• Underwood: “Third party liaison” to act as a
mediator between FIIS and the residents.
Preferably from the Nature Conservancy to “form
an independent board that specializes in conflict
resolution with land managers.”
• If the communities on the island can agree on
how or if they want to manage deer populations
they can take it upon themselves.
• Spatially defined community based initiatives
and resource management.
Management Recommendations
• Creative, sensitive approach that elevates the
awareness of residents and visitors to the consequences
and responsibilities of living in a natural environment
• Permanent, dedicated liaison between FIIS and the
island communities
• Establish a science and management advisory team
• Establish an organization to search for financial means
to fund research, community fencing, and other
management costs.
• Expand research; not only focusing on the deer
population but the white-footed mouse.
• Continued high National Park Service visibility among
communities
Acknowledgements





The Park Service
Center for Disease Control
USGS
The Interweb
Jim Watkins