Oneonta QoL Committee
Presents Deer Update

By TED MEBUST
ONEONTA
The City of Oneonta’s Common Council Quality of Life/Infrastructure Committee met to discuss, among other topics, the recommendations made by the Deer Management Task Force, a volunteer group of Oneonta residents commissioned to research solutions to deer overpopulation in the city, on January 30.

The issue of overpopulation, as the DMTF stated, has environmental and public health consequences, which they identified in an itemized report as: landscaping damage and economic impact; frequent deer-vehicular incidents; impacts on forest vegetation including erosion, stormwater runoff, and loss of forest understory and regeneration; increased deer/human/pet interaction; high tick population and increased tick-borne disease in humans and pets; and negative impacts to the health of the deer herd due to limited resources and interaction with human environment. In response, the task force recommended the use of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation-approved Deer Depredation Permits—also known as nuisance permits—a proposal which the QLC will bring to the Common Council meeting on February 7.

The DMTF report proposed the city enlist “volunteers proficient with crossbows at baited locations” rather than request assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as other rural towns have, to save upwards of $20,000.00 a year.

The volunteers, who would need to pass a course “developed and approved by the Deer Management Oversight Committee and/or their designees,” would take direction from a program supervisor. They must also agree to an extensively-detailed code of conduct.

Expected to take place between January and March, the program will see tree stands and ground blinds placed on sites around the city that are deemed “ideal locations given their size, expected deer traffic, and availability of trees and cover,” pending permission from participating landowners. In the event that a wounded deer runs beyond property boundaries, participants will alert nearby landowners for permission to discreetly remove the shot deer. Any excess of harvested deer will be donated “to an approved venison donation processor for distribution to local food banks and pantries and to families that can benefit from the meat,” according to the recommendation.

“The goal is to reduce deer numbers to levels where forest regeneration and survival of browse-sensitive plants within the City of Oneonta is once again possible. In addition, we aim to reduce or maintain blacklegged tick populations at levels where Lyme disease risks are minimized (5-8 deer per square kilometer according to recent studies in CT),” read the report.

Details of the DMTF report can be found in the “Agendas/Meetings” section of the public documents page on oneonta.ny.us.