Question 2: Deer Control: What is your position on deer management? Would you support a change in the present status from managing wildlife to pest management? How would you pursue this goal?
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SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD 2009 CANDIDATE ANSWERS (in alphabetical order)
Albie DeKerillis: We are past deer management, unfortunately. Now the safety of our children and ourselves are at risk. This matter needs to be addressed, and it needs to be addressed now. Further delay will only cause the problem to escalate. We need action on the issue. I support a professional intervention so long as any treatment is humane and causes no undue suffering to the deer. I would further collaborate with Shelter Island officials, who have vast experience in this area, to learn what methods have worked for them, and which have failed. We can use our own ingenuity to solve the problem, but we can also learn from the efforts of other local towns. Rest assured the majority of the town must be in favor of any proposed legislation before it passes.
Albert Krupski Jr.: As a boy growing up on a farm in Cutchogue, I had access to my grandfather’s, relative’s, and neighbor’s farms from Mattituck to Southold. One thing that I never saw was a deer. Our town was more rural, more open, more deerless. As a farmer, I have witnessed firsthand how quickly the population of deer has exploded, and how much damage they can cause.
As a Town Board member, I was part of the recent Town Forum on deer management held in Town Hall. The meeting was well attended, as the problems caused by deer now include crop damage, landscape damage, destruction of the ecological diversity of our natural lands, damage to cars and life on the roads, spread of ticks and disease, and nutrient loading and diseases spread from the deer waste into our creeks and bays. Quite a list in very short time!
I was recently appointed by the Town Board to the newly-created Deer Management Task Force, which will have to pressure New York State to change it’s deer management laws and policies. Suggested changes (and I receive helpful ones often) include expansion of the hunting season, taking of all deer, baiting, trapping, reduction of bow hunting setbacks, and others. If anyone has any other suggestions, please contact me with any information. This is a Long Island-wide problem, and we need everyone’s help.
Christopher Talbot: My position on Deer Management is that the present set of NYS DEC policies need to be revamped. Deer management is presently regulated primarily through recreational hunting and nuisance permits. This has not adequately culled the deer herds. These deer herds are costly to our farmers and property owners, doing untold damage to property and endangering our lives. Our roadways at times are obstacle courses. As a Town Board we must engage the DEC to allow for greater harvesting of the deer population. We could work in conjunction with Shelter Island and Riverhead for a regional approach. Shelter Island’s program may be something we in Southold should consider.
Jeri Woodhouse: I attended the recent town forum on Deer Management and appreciate the complex nature of this issue which has far-reaching implications for the health and welfare of our human population, our agricultural economy, water quality, and destruction of natural resources including trees, shrubs and natural buffers and habitats. The increasing deer population represents more than a pest problem, it is a crisis. Supervisor Russell has responded by appointing a deer management task force charged making recommendations to the town board. As a town board member I would pay serious attention to the committees report and take proactive steps to enact policies and legislation to address this critical problem.
FISHERS ISLAND JUSTICE 2009 CANDIDATE ANSWERS:
Louisa P. Evans:I like animals and still enjoy the sight of deer “in the wild”, but I am cognizant of the serious problem the deer have become. The accidents they cause, the damage they do to crops and other plantings, and the health problems associated with them such as Lyme‘s disease weigh in favor of a more aggressive culling process. This can start to be done by instituting longer hunting seasons, making more areas available to hunters, raising the limits (and hopefully figuring out how to make excess meat available to food kitchens), and birth control.
Dan Ross: With regard to deer, I am not opposed to issuing licenses to trim the herd.
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SOUTHOLD TOWN TRUSTEE 2009 CANDIDATE ANSWERS:
David Bergen: I fully support our need to address the management of deer. They should be considered pests and as such, appropriate management programs need to be developed and implemented to reduce the damage which deer cause, hence reducing the costs which farmers and property owners must endure to protect their valuable assets. We need to take a common sense approach that will allow activities to curb this ever growing population in an effort to promote a healthy environment. There needs to be plans adapted by both the Planning Board and Trustees which allows for the protection of our properties with minimal red tape. As your Trustee, I will support the elimination of a Trustee wetland permit required for the use of pest fencing as long as reasonable rules and regulations are developed by the Town to address the specifications and installation of these fences.
John Bredemeyer:The recent Town Board forum on the deer problem is a great way to proceed with this complex problem. Deer in their present numbers represent a major threat to health, safety and the environment. However, I am not sure a change in their legal status from “managed wildlife” to that of “pest” will help much without planning and funding a control plan. I believe a regional cooperative approach that
includes respectful humane capture and slaughter and sale of the venison to defray costs, should be considered until deer numbers stabilize at lower levels.
Jill Doherty: The deer problem in this town is another example of needing to balance Mother Nature with our human population. I believe it is the responsibility of the town and its citizens to control the deer population in a reasonable and realistic manner. As we expand our living area, we reduce our wildlife’s living area. A pest management plan needs to be developed that works for all. As a Trustee I believe I can help by making reasonable deer management practices exempt from the Trustee code, thereby making it easier for waterfront owners to protect their property.
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Candidates for Trustee: Ed Harbes, Audrey Horton and Karl Spielmann did not respond to our questions. Candidates who did not respond before press time are welcome to add their answers below using the comment box. SoutholdVOICE members are also welcome to post their comments below. Please stay on topic and start new topics in the forum! Thanks.
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