Monday, March 18, 2013
Hilltop Conservancy Treasurer Theresa Trapp pens Patch Letter to the Editor on Deer Control.
Anti-culling activists insist there are economical and effective non-lethal alternatives to control local deer populations. A previous letter explored the high cost ($3,000+ per deer) and low effectiveness of immuno-contraceptives like GonaCon. Surgical sterilization (either tubal ligation or ovariectomy) would be less expensive (~$1,800 per deer) and far more effective – however, given New Jersey’s current regulations, neither method is operationally feasible. Under statute N.J.S.A. 23:4-42.4, a municipality wishing to conduct any kind of deer management program must first obtain a community-based deer management program permit from the DEP. Imbedded in this statute’s language is the requirement for prior written consent from surrounding…
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Hilltop Conservancy Treasurer Theresa Trapp pens Letter to the Editor regarding county deer hunt.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, February 14
Essex County’s 2013 deer hunt has come to a close, once again removing many of this over-abundant species from our reservations (Hilltop – 61, South Mountain – 43). Contrary to naysayers, deer have not become extinct because of the program, and there are small signs that our nature preserves are beginning to recover from decades of browse damage. Contraceptives are sometimes proposed as an alternative to hunting. However, we need to acknowledge that non-lethal methods to control deer populations would involve significant investment of taxpayer dollars, particularly immuno-contraception (e.g., GonaCon). Each GonaCon inoculation costs more than $1,000 per dose (including locating, immobilizing, inoculating and collaring). In addition, each…
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced the county's deer management program was successful and will continue.
Trained marksmen were responsible for killing 152 deer at two reservations as part of the sixth year of Essex County’s deer management program, county officials announced Wednesday. The program, which ended last week, will continue into 2014, County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. said at a press conference to discuss the program at the South Mountain Reservation. "There's no question for the last six years this program has been very successful," DiVincenzo said. "This will program will continue next year." This comes a year after DiVincenzo announced the continuation of the deer management program this year was under discussion by the county. However, the county did scale back the program from last year's 24 hunting sessions in 12 …
Monday, January 21, 2013
Do you think the county should continue the annual hunt?
- GOVERNMENT
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Monday, January 21
Let the hunt begin. The sixth year of Essex County's deer management program will begin Tuesday, Jan. 22. The hunt will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays until Feb. 7. Hunting will take place at South Mountain Reservation today and Thursday, and Jan. 29 in the afternoon only. In addition, hunters will be allowed to track trails in the Hilltop Reservation and the old Essex County Hospital Center site in the mornings and afternoons on Jan 31, and Feb. 5 and 7. The hunt has also been scaled back this year. The program has been reduced from 24 hunting sessions in 12 days in 2012 to nine sessions in six days this year. Open/Closed During the deer hunt, the reservations and Fairview Avenue in Cedar Grove will be closed. The following county…
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
The letter writers represent Hilltop and South Mountain reservations in Essex County.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, September 11, 2012
The South Mountain and Hilltop Conservancies are mobilizing a petition drive for supporters of the Hilltop, South Mountain and Eagle Rock Reservations to counter a possible end to the County's deer management program. After several years of culling deer densities in our area have been reduced somewhat, but are nowhere near the 10-per-square-mile number needed to allow the forests and their ecosystems to regenerate. We believe that stopping the culling, even for a year, is extremely ill-advised. With no natural predators in our area (wolves, mountain lions, black bears), deer populations will continue to expand unless the County actively reduces the herds. We've set up an online petition for voting-age residents to tell Essex County …
gregory l. mitchell
8:45 am on Saturday, March 30, 2013
Talk to any policeman from any of The Caldwells,Essex Fells,Verona and Cedar Grove as they ride all through the aforementioned boroughs at night.Since the development of The Hilltop and now the county hunts the last several years,deer are now noticed in greater numbers than ever before.Obviously this makes sense,the deer will now head out to our yards for protection and that is exactly what they … more ›