Final year of tests for 4-poster study begins Monday


“The 4-poster season is upon us and the plan is to begindeploying stations on Monday, March 15, Town Supervisor JimDougherty announced during a special meeting of the Town Boardafter Tuesday’s weekly work session.

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

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

Funding the 4-poster program has been a challenge from itsinception. The town is responsible for servicing 40 stations;another 20 stations deployed at Mashomack Preserve are maintainedby Suffolk County Vector Control. The Town Board approved $80,000for the program in the 2010 budget but the contracts approvedTuesday will likely exceed that amount. The requested budget forthe program was $200,000 but was reduced before budget adoption. OnTuesday the supervisor said, “The rest of the money is there and itwon’t be from the taxpayers or the town. He told the ReporterWednesday that detailed conversations with the state Department ofEnvironmental Conservation regarding filling in the budgetary gapare ongoing.

State-required research by Cornell University scientists isfunded separately; it will not be paid by the town and is nearlycovered through other sources, according to Deer and Tick CommitteeChairman Rae Lapides. For details on Cornell’s plans for the comingyear, see the story on page 6.

Mr. Dougherty described the contracts for supplying whole-kernelcorn and maintenance of the stations by a licensed pesticideapplicator as “the two large ticket items in the 4-posterbudget.

Premiere Pest Control of Southampton was the only bidder for the4-poster station service contract. The town awarded the bid for$1,350 per week for 25 stations and an extra $250 for each 5additional stations per week, which is expected to amount to justunder $80,000 for the 9-month deployment period.

Neptune Farm Products of Calverton was the lowest of three bidsfor corn, which cost nearly $60,000 last year. The price of corn islower this year and the contract was awarded for $340 per2,000-pound pallet of corn. Cornell scientists reported last yearthat corn consumption by deer ranged from a high of about 13,000pounds per week in mid-September to around 5,000 pounds inmid-October when acorns were plentiful.

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

That wasn’t the only reason the town had to scrape up extramoney, said Police Chief James Read, who coordinates the town’sdeer management program. The town’s corn funds were insufficientbecause the Town Board cut much of the anticipated 4-poster costsfrom the 2009 budget, he said. This year, the lower cost of cornwill help the situation, Chief Read said.

In response to a comment by Mr. Waddington that this will be thelast year for 4-posters, Chief Read responded that if the programis proven to be successful, “I can’t imagine that you won’t havepeople in here hoping to keep this on the dole.

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