Park board to discuss sharpshooter proposal June 17

During their regular monthly meeting tonight, the Johnson County Parks and Recreation District's Board of Commissioners will debate staff recommendations to have sharpshooters reduce the deer population at Shawnee Mission Park.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. in the gymnasium of the Lenexa National Guard Armory, 18200 W. 87^th Street Parkway, just east of the 3&2 baseball complex.

The public will have a chance to give commissioners their opinions of the recommendations.

Bill Mobley, Shawnee, lives near the park and for years has had trouble with deer destroying his shrubs and flowers. Thinning the deer herd using trained marksmen from the park rangers' staff and from local law enforcement agencies is good news to him, he said.

"It sounds great," Mobley said. "I know there are going to be some bow hunters upset about it, but that's the park's decision. As long as they take care of the deer population, I don't care how they do it."

An eight-member staff management team of Michael Meadors, director of Parks and Recreation; Bill Maasen, superintendent of Parks and Golf Courses; Mike Ray, superintendent of Park Safety and Interpretation; Grant Evans, Park Police chief; Terry Anderson, Park Police captain; Billlie Thompson Park Police community relations manager; and Randy Knight, community relations manager studied the situation and unanimously came up with the recommendations.

A copy of the recommendations is posted on the Resource Management page of the district's Web site at www.jcprd.com. 

In the recommendations, the initial harvest would take place in mid- to late fall of this year. The sharpshooters would undergo training and management by harvesting experts. The harvest would be limited to controlled, baited sites that would be developed in advance of the event in order to establish a feeding pattern for the deer.

The harvested meat would be processed to benefit the homeless and/or needy within the Johnson County community.

By early November, a follow-up survey will be done to determine the success of the harvest. If the deer population remains above Shawnee Mission Park's capacity of 50 deer per square mile, another controlled harvest would take place in November, December and January of 2010 for specially certified archers. That harvest would be jointly managed by JCPRD police and officials with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and in cooperation with the city of Lenexa.

As the deer population is monitored, a similar process could take place in the fall of 2010 if needed.

The current deer population, according to studies done by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, is seven times the normal population of 30 per square mile. In the 2,230-acre Shawnee Mission Park area that figures to about 200 per square mile. The overpopulation has caused numerous problems with neighboring home owners and commercial businesses complaining about plant and landscaping damage, and public health concerns about diseases associated with ticks that are carried by deer.

JCPRD researched other ways of reducing the deer population that included allowing bow hunters, capturing and relocating the deer to Western Kansas, and using fertility control and fencing options.

Knight said after considering all the options, the committee agreed the sharpshooting recommendation and follow-up was the best and most cost-effective plan.

"We feel this is the best course of action given the existing conditions not just in our park, but also because of the jurisdictional issues that have come into play in trying to manage the situation," Knight said.

"It's a matter of economics, too," he said. "It's a more cost-effective way to go about that type of sharpshooting."

Tracy Thomas, Shawnee, said she would not be satisfied until all the deer have been eliminated.

"It's a Catch 22; It's like preposterous," she said. "It's a start, but they didn't have the (guts) to make a decision. They need to take out all the deer every year, not hire someone to fly over and count how many there are. And they shouldn't feed the poison meat to the poor because one of the four Lyme-literate doctors says that the meat, to make sure it does not communicate syphilis, needs to be incinerated.

"But (these recommendations) all are based on the fantasy of the deer, how cute they are - the Bambie fantasy. But the deer have syphilis in their blood that is only communicated by the tick. The government is covering it up, including the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and the Johnson County Health Department."

Knight said he is not aware of any evidence that suggests any deer in Johnson County carry syphilis.

"The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has expressed no concerns to us in this regard," he said.

Thomas admitted there are conflicting opinions.

"Some people say there is proof (deer in Johnson County are infected with syphilis) and some will say there isn't," she said.

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