DEEP Help Sought In

Tick-Borne Disease Effort

By John Voket

The Board of Selectmen Monday, February 6, agreed to solicit help from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) in the town’s initiative to reduce incidence of tick-borne disease.

The board asked that representatives from DEEP, which is or has recently participated in similar projects in Fairfield County, come before the selectmen and public to explain the scope and possible outcomes of its participation in the local effort.

The issue was on the selectmen’s agenda as officials move to process recommendations from the town’s Tick-Borne Disease Action Committee. A majority of the committee voted to recommend the town consult with DEEP on the matter, which will focus on deer management.

Five members of the committee opposed requesting DEEP’s help.

Deer are thought to be the largest or among the largest carriers of the ticks that cause Lyme disease in the region, as well as ehrlichiosis and babesiosis. Health District Director Donna Culbert has identified the level of these conditions presenting in Newtown as unusually high.

For the second meeting in a row, First Selectman Pat Llodra found herself addressing members of the audience who came to monitor the board’s action on the DEEP proposal.

“This is a very emotional issue,” she admitted to the dozen audience members who turned out for the meeting.

Earlier in the evening, Conservation Commissioner Dr Marjorie Cramer announced that an ad-hoc group of Newtown residents were coming together to consider scientific alternatives to deer management. Dr Cramer told the board that while wildlife and environmental preservation were of great concern to the group, their motive was also to enhance public safety.

She later referred to the group’s goal of proving that recreational hunting as an unsuccessful means of significantly reducing the deer population locally. Dr Cramer also said she and the group would work with the selectmen to identify objectives to address the companion issues of deer and tick-borne disease.

In describing the range of likely services DEEP could provide Newtown, Mrs Llodra described a similar project that was just completed in neighboring Redding.

That study included developing a deer population model; a hunters’ survey and examination of hunter activity; an assessment of motor vehicle vs deer crashes; a homeowners’ survey; and defining hunting areas in the community.

Selectman Will Rodgers said he did not believe engaging DEEP would predispose the town to initiating a hunting option for deer management, rather the agency could provide the town “an exhaustive analysis of factors and options.”

“It’s free research,” Mr Rodgers added.

Selectman James Gaston agreed, saying getting more information is helpful, but does not require the town to follow the DEEP recommendations.

“I’m curious to know what they have to say,” Mr Gaston said. “We’re not making a decision regarding hunting.”

Mrs Llodra said she realizes any discussion about deer management taps into a vein of anxiety among members of the community, but engaging DEEP is “tapping into information” the town could not otherwise generate without expending its own resources.

“I understand there are passions involved,” Mrs Llodra said. “I want the community to have trust.”

Mr Rodgers said it was inappropriate to believe “the writing for a hunt is on the wall, and DEEP is doing the writing.”

Mr Gaston agreed.

“If we don’t like what we hear, nobody [on the board] is afraid to say no.”