Type of Statement: Environmental Assessment of the Relocation of Bait Stations for White -Tailed Deer Immunocontraception Research Fire Island National Seashore and the Humane Society of the United States

Proposed Action: Preferred Alternative C – Relocation of Baiting Stations onto Public Lands

Comments by: August 13, 1999

Lead Agency: National Park Service

Fire Island National Seashore

120 Laurel Street

Patchogue, New York 11772

For Further Information: Michael Bilecki

Fire Island National Seashore

120 Laurel Street

Patchogue, New York 11772

(516) 289-4810 ext. 234

This environmental assessment reviews the impacts associated with a population control research project of white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS). The National Park Service has proposed to relocate deer baiting stations associated with the Immunocontraception Research (IR) project from private to public lands. Baiting station sites have been chosen to reduce the potential for deer-human conflict and to improve the regulation of the program’s timing and the bait provided. The No Action alternative explores the implications of prohibiting the continuation of the proposed research. All other alternatives include the issuance of a Special Use permit to allow the project to continue.

From 1988-98 research has been ongoing to assess the population dynamics and ecological impacts of white-tailed deer living within the authorized boundary of Fire Island National Seashore (4, 6, 7). Based upon this work, deer density throughout western Fire Island has increased from less than 5 deer/km² to more than 80 deer/km² since observations have been made (late 1960s to present; 6, 7). The dramatic increase in deer numbers over the last several decades has been largely attributed to two factors. First, mortality due to predators, hunting and poaching, and deer-vehicular collisions on Fire Island is virtually non-existent. In particular, the establishment of the Seashore in 1964 and ensuing Federal presence ostensibly curtailed or eliminated poaching which, according to local lore, was pervasive. Second, deer have had widespread access to non-natural food sources. This includes intentional feeding by residents and visitors, feeding upon ornamental and garden plants on private property, and opportunistic feeding on garbage. This feeding, combined with low mortality increased the number of deer across western Fire Island at an average annual rate exceeding 23% between 1983-91 (6). Today, the feeding of deer by residents and visitors has become a culturally ingrained activity and sympathy for the well being of deer, especially during the winter, is intense. Consequently, the number of deer capable of being supported in a relatively small land area is considerably greater than in other areas of FIIS where deer numbers are less affected by the activities of humans.

In 1993, a research project funded largely though private donations to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) was initiated on Fire Island to explore the use of emerging wildlife contraceptive technologies on a free-ranging population of deer. As its principal objective, the project sought to determine if (1) the technology could be employed for an unconfined population of wild animals, and (2) the contraceptive agent could produce a measurable reduction in fertility among treated females. Both objectives were substantially affirmed over the first five years of study.

Because baiting of deer is of fundamental importance for the efficient treatment of large number of females, the program will become more sustainable over the long run as the National Park Service relocates baiting stations onto public lands. Moving the stations will hopefully shift the deer away from the communities and reduce the potential for deer-human conflict and raise public acceptance of the program. This will, in addition, allow for closer regulation of the timing and amount of bait provided, potentially minimizing feeding and its impacts on deer behavior and population dynamics.

The HSUS initiated research on FIIS in 1993 to develop a safe and humane method of reducing deer birth rates. The HSUS was seeking a location to field test the use of porcine zona pellucida (PZP), an immunological contraceptive agent developed and tested on wild horses at Assateague Island National Seashore (1). The research project was designed to assess the contraceptive efficacy of the vaccine on free-ranging deer with a specific purpose to test remote delivery methods at baiting stations located on private land in several communities of western Fire Island. The initial project duration was scheduled for five years.

PZP immunocontraception is a technique whereby injection of a vaccine derived from the proteinaceous membrane surrounding pig egg cells stimulates the immune system of female deer to produce antibodies that inhibit fertilization and, therefore, prevent pregnancy (2, 5). The vaccine can be delivered remotely, eliminating the need to capture and handle deer. Treatment requires an initial inoculation regime of two dosages, which may be separated in time for up to a year, and with the second inoculation administered approximately four weeks prior to the onset of the breeding season (4a, 5a). Extending the fertility control effect is substantially accomplished through an annual booster shot.

After four years of successive treatments, most females demonstrated a substantial reduction in fertility (i.e., -90% to <10% of all females conceiving). In brief, the proposed continuation will focus on demonstrating that population control can be achieved through individual fertility control. The shift in emphasis from individuals to populations is logical but requires some changes in previous years’ protocols and technologies. These changes include: (1) the addition of a mark-and-inject system to alleviate the burden of identifying individual deer, (2) more than one qualified person treating animals to improve efficiency; and (3) automatic baiting devices at authorized stations to more closely monitor the frequency and amount of supplements made available to deer over an approximately 30-day treatment period.

The proposed continuation, if granted, will be coordinated among a number of parties. FIIS is the primary participant and will coordinate all activities associated with the proposed project to begin September 1, 1999. The HSUS, co-sponsors of the fertility control research, have been providing the technical expertise in delivering the contraceptive agent at baiting stations on private land within residential communities. A USGS-BRD scientist who has assisted FIIS for several years on deer-related issues and has guided the development of appropriate monitoring methods to assess deer density, herd composition and vegetation status, will serve as project manager. Other cooperators include the State University of New York, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and volunteers, residents, and communities of Fire Island. A number of Fire Island community residents associations assist FIIS by continuing to provide dedicated volunteers and sites for deer baiting stations.

Fire Island is a barrier island located along the southern coast of Long Island, New York (40 41' N, 73 00' W). It is approximately 51 km long and averages about 0.5 km in width. The island is bordered by the inlets of Fire Island to the west and Moriches to the east and is separated from Long Island by the Great South and Moriches Bays. The physiognomy of Fire Island is typical of Atlantic barrier islands which grade from a primary dune along the ocean to salt marsh along the bay. Wind, salt spray, erosion and other environmental factors influence the development of vegetation. Dominant vegetation common to Fire Island includes pitch pine (Pinus rigida), beach grass (Ammophilia breviligulata), wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), bayberry (M. pensylvanica), shadbush (Amelanchier canadensis), and common greenbrier (Smilax rotundifolia). This particular composition of vegetation is typical of Fire Island except within the various communities where residents have planted non-indigenous vegetation. The National Seashore consists of 42 km of Fire Island. Eleven kilometers of eastern Fire Island, between Smith Point and Watch Hill, comprise the only federally designated wilderness in the state of New York and in national parks of the northeastern United States. The Smith Point County Park (from Smith Point West to Moriches Inlet) falls within the boundary of the National Seashore but is administered by the Suffolk County Park Commission. Robert Moses State Park, on the western end of Fire Island, is not within the authorized boundary of FIIS and is managed by the Long Island State Park Regional authorities.

Other parts of Fire Island have more extensive development. Seventeen private resort communities, first established on Fire Island at the turn of the century and concentrated on the western end of the island, lie within the administrative boundary of FIIS. These communities can be accessed either by boat across the Great South Bay or by vehicle via the Robert Moses Causeway. A network of boardwalks is common within most Fire Island communities and serves as the primary thoroughfare for predominantly pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

The presence of these communities that are themselves part of the National Seashore complicates management of the park’s natural resources. The 4,000 homes on Fire Island are primarily used as vacation homes; residents and visitors alike view the island as an opportunity to escape the heavily developed urban and suburban environs of Long Island and metropolitan New York. The white-tailed deer is, perhaps, the Park's most conspicuous natural resource. Thousands of visitors are attracted to Fire Island each year for the opportunity to view deer roaming in a natural barrier island setting.

NPS regulations and policies support the proposed continuation of the IR project and specifically exempt it from NEPA compliance. The need for this assessment is, nonetheless, justified and desirable due to potential environmental impacts posed by the relocation of existing baiting stations onto public land. Congress authorized the establishment of FIIS as a unit of the National Park Service in Public Law 88-587 (September 11, 1964). The Seashore’s 1964 enabling legislation states, "The Secretary shall administer and protect the Fire Island National Seashore with the primary aim of conserving the natural resources located there."

The 1977 General Management Plan (GMP) reflects a systematic approach to park management. Research activities should be undertaken in the Park, including an inventory of the plants and animals that inhabit the Park and any additional research on flora and fauna necessary to provide data for management of those biological resources (3). In addition, Section 2.2(a)(2), volume 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations, prohibits the feeding, touching, teasing, frightening, or intentional disturbance of wildlife nesting, breeding, or other activities on national park lands, including all lands within the legislative boundaries of Fire Island National Seashore.

ALTERNATIVE A — NO ACTION

Under this alternative, no special use permit would be granted for the proposed continuation of IR. All research would be discontinued including baiting activities, treatment of female deer with contraceptives, and follow-up monitoring.

By discontinuing all IR, approximately 150-175 fawns would be born the following year alone raising the deer population to 400-600 animals on western Fire Island. Many island communities and adjacent lands exhibit deer densities in excess of 80/km². Browsing pressure on certain indigenous plant species would intensify dramatically, especially in the Lighthouse tract and Sunken Forest due to their proximity to these dense deer populations.

No known historic or cultural resources would be affected.

The IR has important implications to the socioeconomic management of deer populations in suburban/urban settings. This project is unique in that the deer are never captured or permanently marked. The proposed continuation represents the first real test of IR technology for managing a population of animals. Due to the uniqueness of the research setting, there is no other arena within which a free-ranging deer population is being intensively treated with fertility control agents. The loss of important efficacy data and a full and thorough analysis of costs and benefits must be considered substantial, negative outcomes of this alternative. Existing impacts which may become more frequent include: 1) human injuries resulting from accidental/aggressive deer behavior; 2) property damage to fences from collisions with deer, and 3) property damage caused by deer foraging on ornamental plants. As negative deer-human encounters increase in frequency, public acceptance of deer and other wildlife may decline, having implications for the natural resources of Fire Island.

ALTERNATIVE B — NO RELOCATION OF BAITING STATIONS (Status Quo)

Under this alternative, FIIS would maintain the status quo by granting a special use permit for the proposed continuation of IR. Baiting stations used for the expressed purpose of expediting treatment of reproductive females would not be relocated to public land, nor would there be any additional accounting of the amount and frequency at which supplements are being provided to deer.

Because baiting stations would remain on private property, no direct environmental impacts would be expected on public land.

A lack of control over deer baiting would continue with great potential for increased feeding. This would interfere with the efforts of the project by increasing the fertility of the does that remain untreated or that do not respond to treatment. It would also increase the survival rate of all deer on Fire Island and could lead to further detrimental impacts to the island’s vegetation.

No known historical or cultural resources would be impacted.

Over the last five years most baiting has occurred on private property within individual communities. Baiting concentrates sometimes large (>25) numbers of deer to a focal location, often within close proximity to people and property. Research has demonstrated that the encounter rate with deer in the vicinity of active baiting stations remains high for some time after cessation of baiting. By failing to move the baiting stations to Federally owned property, large concentrations of deer will continue to be highly visible and in close proximity to people. In addition, the amount of bait and the frequency it is made available to deer has not been closely monitored or evaluated despite clear implications to the well-being of the deer. The National Park Service adheres to strict Federal Regulations prohibiting the "feeding" of wildlife; any nutritional supplementation to the natural diet of deer on Fire Island runs counter to these regulations and to the goals of the proposed research project.

A number of issues have emerged over the years which are tied directly to changes in the abundance, dispersion and behavior of deer including a health issue associated with the transmission of Lyme disease. The black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis, formerly deer tick) is the vector of the disease pathogen and parasite on common mammals, and its presence is well-documented on Fire Island. Although deer do not directly transmit the disease, they carry these ticks on their bodies and factor into the transmission cycle. In addition, habitual exposure to people lessens the wariness of deer, and increases encounters and potential conflicts with people, particularly along physical structures such as boardwalks and fences.

Leaving baiting stations at their existing locations in the communities will not alleviate the level and types of deer-human encounters in western Fire Island and concerns over property damage, Lyme disease transmission and human safety will continue and possible escalate.

ALTERNATIVE C — RELOCATION OF BAITING STATIONS ONTO PUBLIC LANDS (Preferred)

Under this alternative, baiting stations will be relocated onto the green belt NPS lands adjacent to most Fire Island communities. Bait station relocation will be a gradual process whose progress will depend on the success of new sites chosen early in the project. As deer are diverted to automatic bait stations on public land, more bait stations will be relocated. These baiting stations will be used to concentrate deer at focal locations to facilitate treatment with contraceptives. The foci will be outside of major traffic areas and away from essential natural zones (i.e., the Lighthouse Tract and Sunken Forest). One to three baiting stations will be relocated and utilized this year. These stations will be equipped with an automatic dispenser calibrated to supply bait to reproductive females. Bait levels are set to provide high encounter rates with reproductive females but not to affect the overall well-being of individual deer. The relocation of baiting stations to public lands will occur gradually over time. Where deer cannot be diverted to bait stations on public lands, there remains the possibility of a few bait stations on private lands continuing to be maintained.

At present, there are 12 baiting stations in use – nine in the communities, two on NPS lands, and one adjacent to NPS land. Over the course of the project, the project will aim to consolidate these stations onto public land between the Lighthouse and Watch Hill. The final total of baiting stations on NPS lands will remain undetermined until the project can better determine the propensity of deer to move to new sites. One or more persons specifically authorized by the HSUS and NPS will monitor the baiting stations. The Park’s goal is to try to treat ten to fifty deer per station annually. The expected duration of treatment -- September 1 to 30 – will be 30 days. Temporary structures (e.g., aluminum garbage cans with locking lids, small wooden sheds, etc.) may be built or placed at sites to protect and store equipment and bait. Existing structures will be used whenever possible. Any bait or other supplements made available to deer in locations not specifically authorized as part of the proposed research will indicate violations of one or more regulations in 36 CFR.

The NPS can issue a special use permit once the researcher (i.e., the HSUS) has received a "License to Collect and Possess" permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The NPS will, in addition contribute activities included in the following schedule/time table:

Between Watch Hill and the Fire Island Lighthouse the NPS owns a number of green belts. These holdings are generally small (<25 ha), with the exception of the Lighthouse Tract (LT) and Sunken Forest (SF), and receive little to no visitor traffic except along the ocean beaches. It is within these green belts where this assessment is focused. The natural value of many of these areas is limited by their small size, their use as corridors for public utilities among adjacent communities, and their irregular morphology which is absent a well-developed primary dune system. In fact, many of these areas are predominantly coastal marsh and contain abundant populations of Phragmites australis, a non-native perennial wetland reed. There are no recorded threatened, endangered, or rare plants in these areas.

Concentrating deer at baiting stations in these areas will dramatically reduce vegetation cover and increase trampling and substrate compaction at each site. Disturbance to natural features of these areas caused by the presence of deer is predicted to be of short duration and highly localized (<46 m). There may be an increase in deer browsing on indigenous plant populations on public land because deer will be spending more time feeding and resting nearer the relocated baiting stations. Because more control is expected in the frequency and amount of supplements offered to deer, direct effects on the well-being of deer will be minimized.

No known historic or cultural resources would be affected.

In the short-term, negative human-deer interactions resulting in property damage and/or injury would be expected to decline as more deer find and revisit the relocated baiting stations. Deer-human interactions are also anticipated to decline as deer concentrate more frequently in the green belt (i.e., outside of the communities). Monitoring will be conducted to evaluate hypothesized changes in the dispersion of deer within the communities where baiting stations have been relocated.

Over time, the deer will become less exposed to human hazards. As interactions diminish, deer may become less habituated to humans and human environments and the number of problem animals (i.e., aggressive beggars) will decline. Because sites for baiting stations will be chosen in swale areas away from boardwalks and visitor centers, impacts to personal private property and to the visiting public are expected to be negligible. Baiting will be conducted no more than twice daily, generally in the early morning or early evening hours when deer are most active.

National Historic Preservation Act - None of the proposed alternatives involve actions considered to be Section 106 "undertakings" with potential to affect cultural resources.

Coastal Zone Consistency - Not applicable to this action

Wetland and Floodplain Compliance - Not applicable to this action

Endangered Species Act - Informal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been conducted with the determination that no threatened or endangered species will be affected by the proposed action.