Q&A
Wildlife management challenges in the watershed
1:37:36
·
3 min
DEP officials discuss the specific wildlife management challenges in the watershed and measures taken to mitigate their impact on water quality.
- Main concerns are white-tailed deer, raccoons, and other small mammals
- Waterfowl management program has been effective since the early 1990s
- DEP is considering various approaches to address mammal populations, including trapping and relocation
- Regular scat collection program is implemented around reservoir intakes
James F. Gennaro
1:37:36
When we talk about wildlife, what what kind of species are we talking about?
David Warne
1:37:45
It's a combination of white tailed deer populations, raccoons, other small mammals that are abundant around the shore.
1:37:56
Aren't they abundant?
1:37:58
There are a lot of them around the shores of the reservoir.
1:38:01
As you know, we do have an active waterfowl management program that has been in place since the early 19 nineties.
1:38:08
We've done a very effective job of controlling potential pollution threats from ducks, geese, galls, And that is the monitoring data showing the effectiveness of that program is quite striking, but it's really the manhole populations that are concerned at this point.
James F. Gennaro
1:38:30
The mammal population.
1:38:34
Not to sound like a meanie, but, you know, one way of controlling mammals is to control mammals.
1:38:47
Has that been given any thought?
1:38:51
I'm trying to be very trying to use a euphemism here.
1:38:55
I mean, I I I I'm trapping, relocating, You know, I don't wanna roll out the keyword here, but, you know, there I mean, I I I don't know.
1:39:12
What What's the thought process there?
Rohit T Aggarwala
1:39:13
Oh, council member, look, I think what what you're talking about is exactly the kind of thing that we have to start thinking broadly about, whether whether some of the solutions you've just identified are the right ones.
1:39:25
I don't know, but that, you know, Dave and and Shiloh have been have begun working together on thinking about what the new threats are and what some of the potential solutions might be.
1:39:39
Yeah.
1:39:39
You know, as as Dave just pointed out, the issue of waterfall has been clear since the beginning of the fad, and that's why there's been a long standing effort.
1:39:51
Frankly, as we know, the deer population in Westchester County was a lot lower in 1993 than it is today.
1:39:58
Right?
1:39:58
So it wasn't top of mind.
1:40:00
But thinking about a science based way to address that risk is exactly what we have to do going forward, which may mean that other aspects of the fad change in order to add something along those lines.
1:40:15
But again, we we will be thinking about what the best approaches are, and I don't know enough about wildlife to specify to speculate.
1:40:22
But at least just logically one of the challenges is as you point out, the Kensco watershed itself is actually quite small and particularly deer walk.
1:40:32
So, like, it's not necessarily a captive and resident population.
1:40:36
It's a moving population.
1:40:38
Right.
David Warne
1:40:39
And we we have taken some in steps.
1:40:41
We've done some limited trapping and relocation, but we also have, on a regular basis, a SCAT collection program immediately around the intake.
1:40:51
We're before well, actually, I think on a weekly basis now, we're doing SCAT collection where we go out and we collect scrap piles from any and all species that may have been in the area.
1:41:01
Right.
1:41:02
And that has helped us control baseline coliform levels at the intakes.
