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Trustee: deer-management survey helped craft local program; link to coyotes unclear
Summary
David Twybel and DEC staff discussed how the village’s deer-management program was built on population surveys; DEC said direct correlation between deer and coyote populations is not well established and recommended data collection before expanding programs.
David Twybel, trustee and member of the village Woods Committee, described how Irvington’s deer-management program relied on surveys and documentation to set an annual harvest level and said the program has reduced deer numbers locally. "We are happy with what we've got. We are happy that it's working," Twybel said, urging any coyote-management step to begin with an assessment of local abundance.
DEC staff acknowledged deer are a frequently observed food source in diet studies but said they had not found clear evidence of a one-to-one correlation between deer reductions and coyote declines. "I don't know if I've ran across anything that directly correlates with that," a DEC biologist said. Speakers discussed Snapshot New York camera surveys and Cornell ecological research as possible data sources to better estimate abundance before pursuing expanded lethal removal programs or other large-scale interventions.
