HomeMy WebLinkAboutTignanelli, D DEIS.pdf Page I of 2
Michelle Poppensiek
From: Doreentig@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 2:48 PM
To: Mary Mills
Cc: Kate Supron
Subject: Public Comment,DEIS,Cayuga Heights Deer Mgmt Plan
Attachments: Tignanelli_PublicComment_DEIS_C.pdf
December 14, 2010
Memo To: Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees
Subject: Public Comment, DEIS, Cayuga Heights Deer Management Plan
Please accept the following public comment on the subject DEIS dated November 1, 2010. lam
against the lethal methods of deer management outlined in the DEIS including, but not limited to, the
net-and-bolt process. I ask that the following public comment be included as part of the official record.
1) Executive Summary makes connection between lack of food and "wasting disease". It is not clear
what exactly is meant by"wasting disease". If Chronic Wasting Disease is meant, it should be noted
that CWD is believed to be caused by an infectious protein or prion, not lack of food.
2) In Existing Conditions section, statements are made equating reduction of deer with reduction of tick-
borne diseases with experts from Connecticut cited. However, Dr. Richard Ostfeld, Senior
Scientist, Institute of Ecosystems Studies in Millbrook NY stated "in many Lyme disease zones,
reducing the deer herd is unlikely to substantially affect tick abundance. Reducing mice is more likely to
be effective"and "several recent studies in New York and New Jersey have found no connection
between populations of deer and ticks." See below"Reducing Herds Won't Reduce Risks" by Dr.
Richard Ostfeld and Dr. Felicia Keesing, biology professor at Bard College.
3) Description of Proposed Action states that 80 percent of people surveyed wish the deer population in
Cayuga Heights would decrease. As the actual survey question was not provided, it is not clear
if those surveyed were provided with description of proposed net-and-bolt process where deer would
be trapped under nets and restrained while a captive-bolt gun was pressed against their heads and
a retractable steel rod fired into their brains. Unless the procedure was fully explained to those wishing
for a decrease, the 80 percent figure seems questionable.
4) Description of Proposed Action states that deer are impacting biodiversity. It should be noted that
development results in habitat loss that negatively impacts biodiversity yet restriction of development to
protect or restore biodiversity was not discussed in any detail or included as an alternative.
5)Potential Impacts states"deer may be shot over bait". It is not clear if the NYSDEC allows this or if
NYSDEC requires that bait be removed for a time period before shooting is to occur.
Sincerely,
Doreen Tignanelli
29 Colburn Drive
Poughkeepsie NY 12603
Reducing Herds Won't Reduce Risks
Felicia Keesing is a biology professor at Bard College, and Richard S. Ostfeld is senior scientist
at the Gary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
12/17/2010
Page 2 of 2
Millions of people living in Lyme disease zones, including current patients (who can get infected repeatedly),
will benefit from a better understanding of risk. With no vaccine currently available, imperfect diagnostic tests,
and controversy over appropriate treatment, prevention is a critically important strategy, and avoidance of
infected ticks is the most effective means of prevention. Our research is aimed at understanding where the
hordes of infected ticks come from and why.This information is fundamental to prevention.
One theme is the role of deer in determining tick abundance. In the first 15 years after Lyme disease was
discovered in coastal New England, several studies showed that many adult ticks feed on deer, and
researchers surmised that deer were critical to the tick life cycle.When researchers eradicated deer from New
England islands,tick populations crashed.
Unfortunately, nature has a way of being more complex than first thought.
The key to the Lyme disease problem seemed at hand. Unfortunately, nature has a way of being more complex
than first thought. One complication is that adult black-legged ticks feed on raccoons, skunks, opossums, and
other medium-sized mammals. When deer are scarce, ticks don't necessarily become scarce, because they
have alternative hosts. Indeed, several recent studies (e.g., Jordan and Schulze, 2005; Ostfeld et al., 2006;
Jordan et al., 2007—see citations below)on mainland sites in New York and New Jersey found no correlation
between deer and ticks.
Second, ticks and Lyme disease are rare or absent in parts of the United States (the Southeast, most of the
Midwest)where deer are abundant.
Third, ticks are only dangerous if they are infected, and deer play no role in infecting ticks. Ticks become
infected with the Lyme disease bacterium by feeding on small mammals such as white-footed mice, chipmunks,
and shrews.And mice play the additional role of increasing tick survival—they are at the opposite extreme
from opossums, which kill the vast majority of ticks they encounter.When our group compared the importance
of deer, mice, and climate in determining the number of infected ticks over 13 years in southeastern New York
State, mice were the winners hands down.
Other compelling reasons exist for controlling deer populations, such as reducing vehicle accidents and
increasing forest regeneration. But, in many Lyme disease zones, reducing the deer herd is unlikely to
substantially affect tick abundance. Reducing mice is more likely to be effective.
This is best accomplished by allowing natural predators like weasels, coyotes, foxes, and owls to do the job.
And the best way to increase their numbers is to maximize the size of forest patches. A number of other ways
of reducing risk are currently being tested by our group and others, including the use of natural products such
as soil fungi to kill ticks without adverse environmental impacts and the use of vaccines against Lyme disease
that can be delivered to wildlife.
Citations:
Jordan RA and TL Schulze, 2005. Deer browsing and the distribution of Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in
central New Jersey forests. Environmental Entomology 34: 801-806.
Jordan, RA, TL Schulze, and MB Jahn. 2007. Effects of reduced deer density on the abundance of Ixodes
scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae)and Lyme disease incidence in a northern New Jersey endemic area. Journal of
Medical Entomology 44: 752-757.
Ostfeld RS, CD Canham, K Oggenfuss, RJ Winchcombe, F Keesing. 2006. Climate, deer, rodents, and acorns
as determinants of variation in Lyme-disease risk. PLoS Biology 4: 1058-1068.
12/17/2010