Shelter Island Reporter

"The 4-poster season is upon us and the plan is to begin deploying stations on Monday, March 15, Town Supervisor Jim Dougherty announced during a special meeting of the Town Board after Tuesday's weekly work session.

The deployment launches the third and final year of a state-approved project to test the efficacy and impacts of 4-poster stations to kill ticks. The 4-poster stations, which apply a pesticide to the heads and necks of deer when they feed on corn, are stored during the winter when ticks are inactive and regular and nuisance deer hunts are conducted.

The special meeting was convened Tuesday to award contracts to service 4-poster stations for 2010.

Funding the 4-poster program has been a challenge from its inception. The town is responsible for servicing 40 stations; another 20 stations deployed at Mashomack Preserve are maintained by Suffolk County Vector Control. The Town Board approved $80,000 for the program in the 2010 budget but the contracts approved Tuesday will likely exceed that amount. The requested budget for the program was $200,000 but was reduced before budget adoption. On Tuesday the supervisor said, "The rest of the money is there and it won't be from the taxpayers or the town. He told the Reporter Wednesday that detailed conversations with the state Department of Environmental Conservation regarding filling in the budgetary gap are ongoing.

State-required research by Cornell University scientists is funded separately; it will not be paid by the town and is nearly covered through other sources, according to Deer and Tick Committee Chairman Rae Lapides. For details on Cornell's plans for the coming year, see the story on page 6.

Mr. Dougherty described the contracts for supplying whole-kernel corn and maintenance of the stations by a licensed pesticide applicator as "the two large ticket items in the 4-poster budget.

Premiere Pest Control of Southampton was the only bidder for the 4-poster station service contract. The town awarded the bid for $1,350 per week for 25 stations and an extra $250 for each 5 additional stations per week, which is expected to amount to just under $80,000 for the 9-month deployment period.

Neptune Farm Products of Calverton was the lowest of three bids for corn, which cost nearly $60,000 last year. The price of corn is lower this year and the contract was awarded for $340 per 2,000-pound pallet of corn. Cornell scientists reported last year that corn consumption by deer ranged from a high of about 13,000 pounds per week in mid-September to around 5,000 pounds in mid-October when acorns were plentiful.

Councilman Glenn Waddington asked if the town might have to scramble to pay for corn as it did last year when consumption and costs were higher than expected.

That wasn't the only reason the town had to scrape up extra money, said Police Chief James Read, who coordinates the town's deer management program. The town's corn funds were insufficient because the Town Board cut much of the anticipated 4-poster costs from the 2009 budget, he said. This year, the lower cost of corn will help the situation, Chief Read said.

In response to a comment by Mr. Waddington that this will be the last year for 4-posters, Chief Read responded that if the program is proven to be successful, "I can't imagine that you won't have people in here hoping to keep this on the dole.

Chief Read added that he will be reporting on the results of winter nuisance hunting of deer, which just ended, after the final numbers are tallied.