ARLINGTON, VA — The Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation is working on a project to control the county’s deer population, a plan that could lead to the approval of the use of professional sharpshooting and archery hunting to kill deer in park areas across the county.
As Arlington moves forward with the development of a deer management plan, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA) is stepping up its campaign to oppose the use of lethal methods to control the deer population in Arlington.
“While there is no denying that deer can alter our forests, non-lethal options exist that can deter deer and pose less danger to the general public,” Samuel Wolbert president and CEO of AWLA, said in a statement Wednesday.
AWLA also said it disagrees with the DPR’s premise that the county has “too many deer.” Determining a “healthy carrying capacity” of deer in an area “is a political judgment that is not rooted in biology,” according to the league.
AWLA, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, holds a contract with the county for animal control services. About one-third of AWLA’s annual budget comes from its contract with Arlington County.
While deer culling is used in Fairfax County and other jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C., area, Arlington County has never implemented a deer management program. If it adopts a plan as a result of the current process, it would be the first one on county-owned natural land parks, DPR spokeswoman Jerry Solomon told Patch.
In 2021, contractors hired by Arlington County conducted an aerial deer population estimate using unmanned aerial systems technology. In that survey, researchers found 290 deer, or an average of 13 deer per square mile.
AWLA is encouraging its members and Arlington residents to fill out a deer management survey crafted by the DPR. The league provided the public with sample responses to the survey. The survey will remain open until July 18.
When they respond to the survey, AWLA is recommending that residents urge county officials to use a “more measured and humane deer management plan.”
Potential humane solutions to deer management include sterilization, tree caging, humane scare devices such as water sprayers, odor deterrents, or commercial repellents, according to AWLA. Sterilization was particularly effective in Fairfax City, which saw a reduction from an estimated 91 deer per square mile in 2014 to 40 deer per square mile in 2018, the league said.
On Tuesday, July 11, the DPR will be holding an in-person community forum at the Lubber Run Community Center where it will discuss the deer management project and take feedback from residents.
On the county’s Deer Management Project webpage, the DPR says white-tailed deer are native to Arlington and are an essential part of the ecology. “However, when there are too many deer, they can harm the environment by eating certain plants faster than they can grow back,” the DPR says.
“Arlington does not have enough predators for deer, so the deer population can grow too quickly and upset the balance of nature,” the project website says. “This project aims to identify ways to protect Arlington’s County-owned natural land parks so that all the plants and animals that are a part of the County’s ecosystem can live and thrive here.”
In 2022, Arlington County hired White Buffalo Inc., a wildlife management and research organization, to perform data collection and analysis to determine the impact of deer on county-owned natural land parks.
A recently released deer browse assessment conducted by White Buffalo, dated June 5, 2023, recommended that the county conduct a deer management plan for county-owned natural land parks and offered management options to consider, including professional sharpshooting, surgical sterilization, public archery hunting where permissible, fencing entire parks, or hybrid approaches.
“Our goal is to use this time to educate the community on what those options mean and hear their feedback,” Solomon said.
In the assessment, White Buffalo stated that deer must be managed at or below ecological carrying capacity to prevent depletion of resources. Although deer densities in many areas of the eastern United States may exceed 100 deer per square mile, forest regeneration is negatively affected when deer population densities generally surpass 20 deer per square mile, according to the assessment.
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Dear culls are conducted in neighboring jurisdictions, where there is a larger deer population per square mile. In Fairfax County, signs are placed in park areas, alerting residents that hunters, such as members of the Fairfax County Archery Program, have been granted permission to hunt and kill deer.
According to the AWLA’s Wolbert, though, deer culls are expensive and don’t work. “Once started, a deer cull must be continued year-over-year,” he said. “Neighboring jurisdictions have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and killed countless deer, and yet these programs have continued for decades with no end in sight.”
Wolbert also warned residents that a deer cull could extend into their backyards.
“Given the density of Arlington and the adjacency of county park land to homes, these deer will be hunted in our backyards,” he said. “Public parks will be closed or usage will be limited. Deer not killed on a first shot will pose a danger to any person or animal in their vicinity, and even a mortally wounded deer can still live on adrenaline for many seconds and cover hundreds of yards. It will not be uncommon for residents to find evidence of dead deer in their backyard.”
The DPR currently does not have a specific end date for its deer management project. The current timeline is to finish gathering feedback through the current round of engagement by July 18 and then come back with a follow-up opportunity for public engagement this fall or winter, Solomon said.
Once it is completed with the project, the DPR will present its draft recommendations for deer management in county-owned parks and a monitoring program to the Arlington County Board.
“We have always found the county to take measured, humane approaches in the past, and we trust that they will do the same in response to deer in Arlington County,” AWLA said.
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