Dear Fire Island Resident:

As part of the Fire Island white-tailed deer PZP immunocontraception project, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in cooperation with Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, is providing you with the dates and the locations on which baiting and darting deer will take place during 2000.

Baiting at approximately 10 HSUS/FIIS run bait stations and 7 resident run stations between the FIIS lighthouse west of Kismet and the Talisman Heliport east of Fire Island Pines will begin on or about August 15, 2000 and continue until September 30, 2000. Daily deer darting at these 17 bait stations and along community streets will commence on the morning of September 7, 2000 and will continue until greater than 95% of the female deer have been darted or through September 30, 1999, whichever comes first.

Pre-baiting and baiting for the sole purpose of treating deer with PZP will occur at the following locations in 2000:

Lighthouse/Checkpoint (FIIS land)
Kismet Firehouse (FIIS land)
Seabay Beach Poolhouse (Al Mangels business)
FIIS land on the western edge of Saltaire (Buteau residence)
Saltaire Dump
Zelda Levine residence in Dunewood |
FIIS land between Atlantique and Robbins Rest
FIIS land between Robbins Rest and Corneille Estates
Judy Hamburg residence in Corneille Estates
Bruce Mayer residence in Seaview
Norman Steele residence in Seaview
Point O'Woods Ballfield
Sunken Forest East
Sunken Forest West
Bud Verspoor residence in Cherry Grove
Lee Frey residence in Fire Island Pines
Talisman Heliport

Baiting deer will consist of placing bait into ground level feeder bowls, wagons, etc, at resident run bait stations and a combination of feeder bowls and automatic feeders at several FIIS/HSUS ,run stations. No bait will be placed directly on the ground at any station and automatic feeders will be set up to dispense bait into feeder bowls directly below them. Every effort will be made this year to keep bait waste to a minimum while still placing out sufficient amounts to attract and dart deer.

On or about August 10, 2000 The HSUS will have a large quantity of corn delivered to FIIS facilities at the lighthouse and/or Sailors Haven to be used solely for baiting deer for approximately three weeks prior to and three weeks during the darting period. Prior to delivery The HSUS or FIIS will contact residents to make arrangements to deliver bait and storage containers along with official bait stations signs to only those designated above as having bait stations in their yards. Bait station selection this year is based on the number of deer observed anddarted at each site in years past and once baiting begins no new stations will be set up unless FilS deems them necessary. The exact placement of a few stations on NPS lands may vary slightly once baiting operations begin, but those in designated residents yards will remain the same in 2000.

Once bait is delivered, FIIS and HSUS will keep residents supplied throughout the darting period. Only FIIS or HSUS personnel working on the project during the fall darting period are authorized to transport and deliver bait to bait stations and only bait purchased by the HSUS should be used at the designated bait stations. Telephone numbers for baiting and darting inquiries during the baiting and darting period will be provided to residents when bait is allocated on or about August 14.

In 2000 pre-baiting (August 15-September 6), and baiting and darting deer (September 7- September 30) may be conducted by one or all of the following people:

Rick Naugle, HSUS, baiting and darting
Ernie Taylor, FIIS, pre-baiting and darting
Steve Finn, FIIS, pre-baiting and baiting
David Walter, HSUS, baiting and darting
Amy Pedersen, HSUS, baiting and darting.

Based on what we have learned the past two years darting deer exclusively with marker darts on Fire Island we have adopted a new approach for darting this year. Instead of one person working within each of the three distinct groups of communities (Kismet to Atlantique, Robbins Rest to Point O'Woods, and Cherry Grove to Fire Island Pines) over a two to three week period we will have three to four people working simultaneously at bait stations and along streets in each group of communities until the majority of does receive treatments. Using this strategy we anticipate spending approximately 6-7 days darting does within each group of communities and then moving on to the next group of communities. This should significantly reduce the number of does receiving multiple treatments due to the deterioration of marks left on them.

In 2000 darting operations at bait stations and along community streets will be conducted as follows (dates are approximate):

Kismet to Atlantique- September 7-13
Robbins to Point O'Woods- September 14-19
Cherry Grove to Fire Island Pines- September 20-26
FIIS lands September 15-30

Please note that if your residence or community location appears on the attached list and you would no longer like to run a bait station or have deer darted at your residence please contact me as soon as possible so that we can make other arrangements. In addition, if you have any questions or concerns over the baiting and darting dates described above, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached by telephone at (301) 258-3146 or by e-mail at Rnaugle@hsus.org.

We look forward to seeing you and working with you again this fall. Sincerely.

Rick Naugle
Research Associate
Wildlife and Habitat Protection



cc: Mike Bilecki, FIIS
Ernie Taylor, FIIS
Steve Finn, FIIS
Mary Foley, NPS
Harry Knoch, NYSDEC
H. Brian Underwood, USGS