Town's 4-poster handler expects tick decline to level off

Early drag tests at one of the sites where 4-poster units are in place on Shelter Island haven’t been released yet. But the town employee responsible for the deployment and maintenance of the units, who conducts the  drag tests to assess their effectiveness, said last week this one site showed a slight decline in the tick population this year compared to the numbers he saw last year in the same area.

Highway Department worker Nick Ryan also speculated that the numbers of ticks might have hit a plateau and could be leveling off, so there might not be as much evidence of a continuing decline as tests continue.

The units function as feeding stations for deer — considered the primary host for deer ticks and the most common carriers of Lyme disease ­— that come in contact with a tickicide called permethrin as they feed on corn. The pesticide solution rubs off onto their heads and necks, where ticks are concentrated, and kills them.

The town is running its own 4-poster program this year. Last year, it used a contractor. For three years before that, it was the site of an extensive state-authorized 4-poster test program, funded mostly by the state and county and conducted by Cornell Cooperative Extension.

This year’s results are being tabulated station-by-station because there would be no way otherwise to produce relevant results compared to the three-year period from 2007 to 2010 when Cornell Cooperative Extension managed 60 units on the Island as part of the state test.

The Cornell study ended in 2010 and an analysis of its data was issued in 2011 finding that 4-posters were highly effective in killing ticks in a wide area. Shelter Island continued the program in 2011 and this year, with money enough for only 15 4-posters initially. “I’m not a scientist,” Mr. Ryan said, “but are we reducing the number of ticks out there? It seems to be that we definitely are,” he said in an interview last week, following a June 20 Town Deer and Tick Committee meeting. Finding extra money to deploy five more units, the town deployed 20 4-posters in mid-May and 19 are still in place, he told committee members at that meeting.

One unit at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club had to be removed because it was interfering with the golf course, Mr. Ryan said. But if the town can get approval from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, it’s possible that unit can be moved to another part of the club’s grounds, he said at the meeting. That’s not something the town can do without DEC approval, he said.

Cornell Cooperative Extension educator and entomologist Dr. Dan Gilrein has suggested five additional sites for the units but the town doesn’t have the funds to maintain more units. If more are to be placed, they would have to be funded from other sources, he told the committee. Mr. Ryan mentioned that one individual has offered to pay to have a unit placed on his property.

There continues to be controversy about the effectiveness of the 4-posters. Critic Richard Kelly, who has long opposed the 4-poster program, insisted as recently as last week at a Town Board meeting that there’s only anecdotal evidence and no hard numbers to show any reduction in the incidence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses since 4-posters were first deployed on the Island.

Members of the Deer and Tick Committee dismiss his criticisms. “It’s wonderful that something so simple turned out to be so successful,” Deer and Tick Committee Chairwoman Patricia Shillingburg said at the June 20 meeting with Mr. Ryan. “I want to be very optimistic,” she said. At the same time, she advised her members to keep their ears open to people this summer to see if they’re complaining about incidences of tick-related diseases.

Dr. Gilrein said in an interview that nobody has a clear idea of what factors affect the tick population. But he speculated that 20 years from now, there will be more definitive information as a result of ongoing studies. He noted that, a couple of years ago, there was a dramatic drop off in the tick population in North Haven, even though that community had never deployed 4-posters. Mild weather gives ticks more opportunity to find deer hosts, Dr. Gilrein said.
“The weather could trump everything,” he said.

“The town deserves an enormous amount of credit” for taking the 4-poster program in-house, he said. This is the first year that the town has taken over the job of setting up, maintaining and testing the 4-poster sites, a decision reached after bids from private companies came in higher than expected.

Mr. Ryan, 45, who has worked for the town for 14 years, said when Mark Ketcham was commissioner of public works, they discussed tackling the job in-house. Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr., who took over for Mr. Ketcham in January, has been totally supportive of the effort, Mr. Ryan said in his interview with the Reporter.
Mr. Ryan had to undergo training and win state certification as a pesticide handler so he could legally maintain the town’s 4-posters.

He admitted to the Deer and Tick Committee that “it’s a little scary” sometimes. He takes a lot of precautions, using gloves, spraying his clothes with Repel and carefully checking himself after he has been in the field. Ironically, the only time he has found ticks on himself was on a camping trip this year to Montauk, he said.
“Growing up on the Island, you develop a sixth sense, but so far, I haven’t had a tick on me” while working on the 4-posters, he said.

But he admitted to the committee that sometimes he feels as if he wants to go jump in the bay after he has been in the field.
“Everything has to be working just right,” Mr. Ryan said about the techniques he employs. He follows protocol he learned in a DEC-authorized online program. He had to take a written test at Stony Brook University to gain his technician’s license and, with ongoing education and experience, he could become an applicator next year, he said.

He uses techniques he learned through the course and from Dr. Gilrein to minimize the chance that he or anyone assisting him might be in danger, he said.

“It’s not very scientific,” Mr. Ryan said about the drag tests to collect ticks. He uses a piece of corduroy about two feet wide and three feet long and drags the material along the ground for 30 seconds a short distance from the 4-poster unit. He repeats that process a total of 30 times, counting the ticks each time, he said.

Why was he willing to tackle a job that requires that he handle permethrin and the chance of contracting a tick-related illness?

“I’m concerned about handling of tickicide,” he admitted. “But I don’t want to feel like a hero with this,” Mr. Ryan said.
He volunteered because he recognized that the town needed someone to maintain the 4-posters in order to keep the program alive, he said.

“It’s for the good of the town,” he added.

“Hopefully, we’re able to continue to do it,” Mr. Ryan said about the 4-poster program. “That’s up to the politicians” who will decide whether or not to continue funding the effort, he said.