Begin forwarded message:
From: Tim Levatich <tp...@cornell.edu>
Date: May 17, 2012 2:19:14 PM
To: NATURAL-HISTORY-L <natural-histor...@list.cornell.edu>
Subject: FW: Subject: Urgent, Cornell Deer Management ProgramThe impacts of heavy deer browse pressure on biodiversity are important too. Our tree farm property is benefiting from active hunting and an exposed hilltop location, both of which keep deer browsing somewhat in check. The abundance of all kinds of native plants compared to heavily deer-browsed areas nearby is striking. This has secondary implications for other vertebrate populations too.
Deer abundance is way too high, nearly everywhere. Dr. Blossey’s letter is excellent and should be supported wholeheartedly. There’s far more at stake here than human health, although Lyme disease can be horrific.
Tim
From: bounce-58621959-8532...@listcornell.edu [mailto:bounce-58621959-8532...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Norm Trigoboff
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 1:46 PM
To:
Subject: Fwd: Subject: Urgent, Cornell Deer Management Program
This should apply to anybody a bit squeamish about getting Lyme disease:
Dear All:
You are receiving this message since you have been a supporter of the Cornell Deer Management program or a supporter of deer management on campus in the past. As many of you know, the provost has eliminated funding for the program and we hope to find sufficient support to appeal this decision. Dr. Bernd Blossey has drafted a response with input from many and the text is listed below. Bernd (representing Cornell Natural Areas Committee) is now looking for endorsements of this letter and he hopes to submit the letter with endorsements to the provost ASAP. If you are willing to support this approach please just send Bernd an email stating as much and how you would like to be listed (individual, business, or representing a group). Bernd does not need signatures or for you to write a letter at this point. We hope to continue a discussion with the administration about the severity of such a move to the resources at Cornell and in the surrounding communities in the hopes to reverse this decision and move forward with enlightened deer management on all of Cornell lands. If you can enlist others, please have them send their endorsement to Bernd as well. Please send your email reply to Bernd Blossey at b...@cornell.edu.
Thanks you for your support.
Jay
Jay Boulanger, Ph.D.
Extension Associate
Deer Research & Management Program Coordinator
Cornell University
Department of Natural Resources
B20 Bruckner Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
cell: 607/227-5444
fax: 607/255-0349
e-mail: boulan...@cornell.edu
web: http://wildlifecontrol.info/deer
Here is the Letter:
Dear Provost Fuchs and Dean Boor:
We have recently been made aware of the decision to terminate funding for Cornell’s Deer Management Program (CDMP). We consider this to be a major set-back to our efforts to address and ameliorate significant negative impacts of overabundant deer, and we appeal to you to reconsider this decision.
As detailed in the original deer expert committee report and materials provided by the CDMP, deer have devastating effects on biological diversity, human and pet health (Lyme disease, deer-vehicle collisions), horticultural and agricultural productivity, and greatly increase maintenance costs on campus. Confirmed cases of Lyme disease in Tompkins County have increased 10-fold in the last few years, and deer ticks pose significant risks to Cornell students and field staff. This threat will only increase if deer populations grow unchecked in the Ithaca area.
All of our neighbors and surrounding communities struggle with deer overabundance, and as the single largest landowner in the county, we consider it imperative that Cornell takes its stewardship and leadership responsibilities seriously. The recent innovative move by NYSDEC to establish a Deer Management Focal Area in our region is anticipated to be a model for similar efforts elsewhere in New York State, from Long Island to Buffalo. Cornell’s role in this pilot project, as a research and educational institutional partner, as well as an important landowner, is a key to success. We need to be active collaborators, and ideally, leaders in this endeavor. By eliminating the CDMP and coordinated deer management on Cornell lands, efforts by our neighbors will likely fail. Cornell will also lose its standing locally, regionally, and nationally as a recognized center for deer management and associated ecological and social-science research.
In addition, we are extremely concerned about the lack of institutional commitment that is reflected in this decision. We are striving for a diverse student body, faculty and staff. We should make the very same commitment to ecological diversity that supports and enriches our life at Cornell, and in the Finger Lakes Region. We also strive to provide a healthy, diverse, and safe environment for all human members and visitors to the Cornell community. Our outdoor classrooms and natural areas on or near campus benefit students and community members. We believe that we share a similar responsibility for the non-human life on Cornell lands and beyond, that are currently threatened by present deer densities and their associated impacts.
We urge the administration to reconsider its decision and fund the Cornell Deer Management Program with a changed but expanded mandate. The components of a comprehensive deer management strategy for the entire Cornell land holdings should include at a minimum:
1. Development of a comprehensive deer management strategy based on the different zones that make up the campus, surrounding areas, and outlying lands. These lands should be differentiated by their location and primary use and stated mission (natural areas, residential, recreational, agriculture, unspecified, etc.).
2. Development of metrics to measure the current deer impacts and allow assessments of deer-reduction approaches to achieve the desired outcomes.
3. Implementation of aggressive approaches for reducing deer impacts beyond those achieved by current sterilization and recreational hunting (where necessary, as indicated by quantitative assessments), based on safety and efficacy and in cooperation with NYDEC and surrounding landowners.
3. A restoration plan for the most negatively-affected areas on and off campus.
4. Establishment of a campus commitment to being responsible stewards and reliable partners with surrounding human communities and the state DEC as they make rather bold moves to approach deer management more aggressively.
We will be happy to provide more background or to discuss this letter and further details in person.
Dr. Bernd Blossey
Associate Professor
Department of Natural Resources
211 Bruckner Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
phone: +607.255.5314
fax: +607.255.0349
web: www.invasiveplants.net
