Comments on: Ann Arbor OKs $20K to Create Deer Plan

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 19:07:00 +0000

Re (4.) Thanks to CM Warpehoski for asking that question. It appears that the statement in the administrator’s report was incorrect. The lack of all vegetation observed to be eaten up to the browse line does not equate to “no damage”.

By: Dave Askins

Dave Askins — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:59:55 +0000

A note on the staff responses to agenda items mentioned by Chuck Warpehoski. I’ve swapped the in the address of the .pdf document as the target to the hyperlink.

For readers’ future reference, the staff responses to councilmember questions about agenda items are attached to the Legistar agenda under “Communications from the City Administrator.” Attachment of that document to the online agenda typically takes place starting around 4 p.m. on the afternoon of the council’s meeting. It’s around the same time that the agenda begins to be populated with names of people signed up for public commentary reserved time. If you’re watching a council meeting live, familiarity with that document can be a useful aid in following some of the deliberations.

By: Chuck Warpehoski

Chuck Warpehoski — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:45:01 +0000

I asked about this in a caucus question (answers available at a2gov.legistar.com). The response I received is that staff have seen species-specific damage but not a case where all vegetation at browsing level has been eaten.

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:27:56 +0000

Re (2): I picked up on that too. I’m guessing that the translation is “Parks personnel haven’t particularly noticed a problem”.

I wonder whether the NAP staff were consulted.

By: George Hammond

George Hammond — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 03:23:29 +0000

“Other facts included in the plan are the fact that neither city parks nor golf courses have had vegetation damage by deer.”
That’s a surprise. Were they only talking about landscaped parks? I imagine that some of the natural areas, especially Marshall and Barton, maybe Dolph, Bird Hills, suffer from heavy impact by deer feeding. One of the reasons garlic mustard and buckthorn are invasive is that deer don’t eat them. High deer population + invasives are a double-whammy for our native wildflowers.

By: Hillary Handwerger

Hillary Handwerger — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:24:04 +0000

The number of deer-auto accidents are up already this year– and the heavy time for deer-car collisions doesn’t come until around October!

Nobody wins in a collision. Even in no passengers are hurt, there is major cost and damage to vehicles.