Committee flags chronic wasting disease, suggests revisiting fencing rules and pandemic updates

Members of the Castle Valley Hazard Mitigation Committee discussed biological hazards at the June 24 meeting and recommended two areas for plan updates: expanding outreach about chronic wasting disease (CWD) and reconsidering the town’s fencing ordinance to reduce resident–deer interactions.

Committee participants noted that CWD persists in the local deer population and in soil, and that interactions — including feeding deer or permissive fencing — can increase risk. One member proposed a discrete mitigation action: “reconsider the current fencing ordinance in order to reduce possible interactions with CWD‑infected deer.” The group discussed framing that action broadly (to reduce resident contact with deer) and possibly elevating a fencing‑ordinance review as a stand‑alone item in the plan rather than burying it within general outreach points.

Separately, members recommended updating pandemic‑related language in the plan to change references from “current pandemic” to “recent pandemic” and to keep a condensed note that pandemic protocols (electronic public meetings, building closure protocols and PPE supply for staff) are now standard practice. Committee members suggested continuing community outreach (including support for high‑risk residents) and said the town should compress older paragraphs that tracked the initial COVID response into an updated summary.

No ordinance changes were adopted at the meeting; the committee directed staff to add the fencing review to the draft mitigation actions and to prepare updated pandemic language for public review.