Cleveland Heights committee to roll out ODNR citizen deer survey; feeding ban ordinance discussed

Cleveland Heights’ Public Safety and Health Committee on May 13 heard from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources about a free, standardized citizen deer survey the agency is offering and discussed next steps including collecting police incident data and drafting a local ordinance to prohibit intentional deer feeding.

The survey is intended to let residents report deer-related problems (location, types of damage and estimated monetary loss) and to let municipalities filter responses by city; the ODNR will provide a dashboard that maps reports and aggregates data. Committee members said they will publicize the link, ask the administration for assistance reaching residents without internet access, and ask the law department to prepare draft anti-feeding legislation while reserving any lethal-management decisions until data are gathered.

Jeffrey Westerfield of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, who joined the meeting by Zoom, said the survey is free and designed to be a statewide, standardized tool so cities can compare patterns rather than each creating separate questionnaires. “What I think is probably the bigger topic to discuss and talk about tonight is citizen surveys,” he told the committee, describing how the form captures a reporter’s name and address, pins locations on a map and allows respondents to list damage types and estimated losses.

Westerfield described the survey dashboard and said the data can be filtered by municipality and by date ranges so Cleveland Heights responses can be analyzed alone or in the context of surrounding communities. He said larger population estimates come from other techniques — “helicopter survey is by far and large my go to,” he said — but that helicopter counts require snow and can be expensive. He described drone and infrared options as usable but limited and often more logistically complex than aerial counts.

Committee members repeatedly emphasized that no management recommendation or decision had been made. “We are not anywhere close to making any kind of recommendation, any kind of decisions,” said Jim Posch. Members said they consider the citizen survey a timely first step and asked Westerfield to send the survey link to the committee so it can be shared with residents.

The committee also discussed drafting an ordinance to prohibit intentional deer feeding. Members said the measure would target persistent feeders and act as a deterrent rather than as routine proactive enforcement; education and public-service announcements were discussed as complementary steps. Westerfield recommended a focused approach that allows follow-up when feeding “is causing problems” and noted that poorly crafted feeding bans can be undermined by people claiming they feed birds or squirrels.

The committee assigned several next steps rather than taking formal action: Westerfield will provide the survey link to the committee; the committee will review existing questions and compare them with prior local citizen work before public rollout; staff will explore ways to assist non-internet residents (library kiosks, senior centers, precincts) and to publicize the survey; and the law department will be asked to draft model anti-feeding legislation (members cited Worthington and Newark, Ohio as examples). The committee also agreed to gather police data on deer-related incidents for discussion at a future meeting.

Members emphasized timing and transparency: any aerial population survey would be a wintertime activity, and committee members said they expect no immediate management action pending analysis of survey results and other data. Several members urged clear public messaging to prevent premature assumptions that the committee favors lethal removal before data are collected.

The committee did not adopt any ordinance or formal deer-management plan at the May 13 meeting; it agreed to circulate the citizen-survey link, collect local incident data and work with the law department and administration on next steps.