CITY OF PEPPER PIKE _____________________________ 28000 SHAKER BOULEVARD • PEPPER PIKE, OHIO 44124 Mayor RICHARD M. BAIN PHONE: (216) 896-6126 FAX: (216) 831-6525 EMAIL: [email protected] www.pepperpike.org Dear Friends and Neighbors, As all of us are aware, there are a significant number of deer in the City of Pepper Pike. The City has been engaged in an effort with other eastside communities to better understand the issues on a regional basis. We have helped form the “Eastern Wildlife Management Partnership” to evaluate the deer populations and evaluate approaches to the issue. Late last year, a flyover of Pepper Pike was conducted and the deer population was mapped by infrared imagery. We have received the results of that study, and we indeed have a great number of deer; 277 counted within Pepper Pike, or on average 39 deer per square mile. By next fall, with reproduction and recruitment of fawns into social groups from outlying areas, the number will surge to a projected 383 animals, or 53 per square mile. That number will exponentially increase with time. This is obviously an untenable situation. Several years ago the City had a culling program which temporarily reduced the numbers, but the method used, utilizing a netting and captive bolt system is no longer supported by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The captive bolt method was indiscriminate as a culling method and in the consideration of many, inhumane to the animals. As you may be aware, other communities have adopted other methods of controlling their deer populations, primarily through regulated limited programs, utilizing crossbows. The deer, while beautiful, are destructive of not only our landscaping, but our woodlands. I understand that residents are most aware of their landscaping damage, but it is equally the woodlands in particular which must be a major concern to us. Pepper Pike is a beautiful place to live significantly because of the wooded ravines and areas which run throughout the community. The threat which the deer pose to the woods is extreme. Their foraging is stripping our woods not only of the many beautiful low growing plants, such as trillium and mayapple, but of the small trees vital to succession growth and the sustainability of our woods. They are literally turning the floor of our woods into a brown desert. Years ahead, when the mature trees eventually die off, there will not be maturing succession growth to take their place and the woods will simply be no more. Our challenge is to preserve these natural areas of our community. There needs to be a balance between flora and fauna. Working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), our police department is establishing a program to again cull the deer, which will entail using qualified archers. This will not be an open hunt for anyone to participate in but will be regulated to occur only in what are deemed to be safe areas, conducted at safe times of the day by qualified personnel. It will only be by invitation of a property owner with a qualifying complaint of deer damage which can meet the other criteria necessary to safely operate the program. The goal is of course to reasonably manage a difficult situation in a responsible and humane manner. I understand the prospect of controlling the deer population by lethal means is unpleasant to some and desired by others, but this is a problem which goes far beyond admiration for the beauty of these animals or dismay over having to limit their numbers. It is the responsible path we as a community must take as we seek to preserve our region and its beauty for future generations. Thank you to all for your understanding as we work through this difficult issue. Sincerely yours, Richard Bain Richard M. Bain Mayor CITY OF PEPPER PIKE (216) 896-6126 28000 Shaker Blvd. Pepper Pike, Ohio Cell: (216) 310-0147\ www.pepperpike.org