11/28/09 - Officials from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management met with members of the newly appointed Deer Task Force and the Town Council last week in a first step toward finding ways to reduce the Block Island deer herd.

The deer host ticks that carry Lyme disease, babesiosis and Erlicheosis. A grass roots island group called Citizens Concerned about Lyme Disease convinced the Town Council last month that more dramatic action was needed to reduce the herd. The group had asked the council to support a complete eradication of the herd; the council agreed instead to work toward a significant reduction. The new Deer Task Force’s charge is to advise the Town Council on how best to move forward.

Five task force members on hand had been appointed just the night before at the Town Council meeting, George Mellor, Paul Deane, Chris Blansfield, Maggie Komosinski and Chris Blane. They will bring the task force membership to nine, with Becky Ballard, Mary Sue Record, Pat Doyle and Bill Wilson who were appointed November 2. All the appointments are for one-year terms.

The DEM Associate Director of Natural Resources Management, Larry Mouradjian, told participants that state Rep. Donna Walsh had already contacted the DEM’s director, W. Michael Sullivan, about the island’s concerns.

The first step the state will take, Mouradjian said, will be to conduct a scientific count of the island deer herd. Cathy Sparks, DEM’s Forestry and Fish and Wildlife official, will work with the with the DEM biologist to plan the count, hopefully by this spring. Once the size of the herd is established, Mouradjian said they would then determine how much reduction is needed to diminish the risk of public health problems from the tick-borne diseases.

Members of the deer task force who also belong to CCLD had hoped to see changes in state law to allow more hunting on the island, but Mouradjian said it was too early in the process to address the state law. He was open to expanding deer hunting on the island, such as opening state lands like Rodman’s Hollow to controlled hunts. The state and town are currently in negotiations regarding the management agreement for that land.

The DEM’s constituency are hunters, Mouradjian stressed, who would love an opportunity to come to Block Island. This, he said, could be an economic opportunity if it was packaged with a bed & breakfast, for example.

First Warden Kim Gaffett offered the possibility of opening limited weekend hunting, particularly the last two weeks of February when the island population, she said, “is lean.”

Asked whether night hunting would be an option, Mouradjian said it was used only as a last resort.

Mary Sue Record told Moradjian the CCLD group had been researching Lyme disease issues for 15 months, and came to the conclusion that if you want to eliminate Lyme disease, you must eliminate the deer.

While it has been touted that the number of island deer has increased, the local hunters on the task force disagreed.

Blane said it was difficult to find deer except along the roads where they are often noticeable. And, the area in which hunting is allowed had dwindled, Councilor Dick Martin noted. He pointed out that the law prohibits the discharge of weapons within 500 feet of an occupied building — e.g., any building that could be occupied, even a shed.

Task Force member Becky Ballard told the state officials, “I have a real sense of urgency. In the short term, there are people who are very sick. In the long term, in five to 10 years, there will be more dwellings and it will be even harder [to hunt here].”

Local bow hunter John Fournier, not on the task force, attended the meeting and promoted the idea of increased bow hunting. This hunting method, he said, is done from a blind, shooting down, so the arrows do not carry as far as shotgun slugs. He offered to organize lodging, set up tree stands, and recruit hunters from the bow hunting club.

Opening up more hunting on Block Island would represent a change in local policy. The DEM’s Deputy Chief of law enforcement, Kurt Lynch, recalled a time when there were 55 hunters on Block Island, whereas now, he said, there are only 16.