It is with pleasure that HIRA announces the ‘Deer on Howe’ (DOH) committee.
The question was asked at HIRA’s annual general meeting on August 5, “Does Howe Island have a deer problem”. It was agreed that the HIRA board should seek guidance and respond to islanders with our findings. On October 8, Emily Gonzales, PhD, made a presentation on The Good, the Bad and the Ungulate. At that meeting and when asked, several islanders volunteered to be on a committee to seek information from outside sources such as the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and islanders.
Named to the committee are: Shirley Burgess, representing the Garden Buds; Scott Marshall, representing the Spithead Association; Grant Serson, Jim McReynolds, Austin Page and Terry Botten.
The committee will meet over the winter to determine our next steps. An initial meeting has been held with a management biologist and a fish and wildlife technician with the Ministry of Natural Resources. The DOH committee welcomes your comments and we ask that you email terrybotten@hotmail.com with suggestions and comments.