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TWRA presents options for chronic wasting disease management; agency recommends banning feeding in positive counties and adjusting the management zone
Summary
Agency staff outlined four options for counties with new chronic wasting disease detections — including no action, agency recommendation to prohibit feeding in positive counties and to adjust management zone boundaries, and two buffer/unit alignment approaches — and asked commissioners for direction for formal rulemaking notice.
At a public meeting in Dyersburg, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency staff briefed commissioners on recent chronic wasting disease (CWD) detections and presented options for how the agency might respond by rule. The agency reported three newly positive counties — Williamson, Dixon and Humphreys — each with a single positive animal so far, and said additional test results remain pending.
Agency staff summarized four options for the commission’s consideration: no action (which would automatically expand the CWD management zone under current rules), the agency’s recommendation (prohibit feeding in CWD‑positive counties and adjust the management zone boundaries, including removing automatic adjacency provisions), adding buffer counties adjacent to positives, and aligning the zone with Deer Management Unit 2. The agency emphasized hunter access to processors, practical difficulties with transport restrictions and the need to keep regulations simple to avoid discouraging harvest.
“Hunters are our huge partner in this,” the presenter said, noting that transport difficulties to processors and complex county restrictions can discourage participation. The agency recommended prohibiting feeding in CWD‑positive counties and adjusting the management zone to align with Deer Management Unit 1 while removing the automatic addition of contiguous counties.
Commissioners raised concerns about past efforts in Fayette and Hardeman counties, noting targeted removals and other measures that had limited success. Commissioner Monty Beaulieu described CWD as a long‑term problem and urged study of what has worked elsewhere, endorsing buffer zones as a possible mitigation to slow spread rather than eliminate it.
Agency staff noted that processors are permitted by TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation) and that permitted disposal practices are the avenue for carcass disposal compliance; staff said they believe TDEC disposal rules prevent improper carcass dumping on the landscape.
No formal rule vote on CWD management occurred at the meeting; Greg Davenport (committee chair) reminded the commission that the discussion is a preview and that any options the commission wants to pursue must be included in the public notice for the formal rulemaking that will be voted in March.
