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City Council Date: 10/0/08 REGULAR Item: 7 ITEM: Conduct random drawing for the purpose of selecting individuals to participate in the deer harvest being conducted in Sunfish Lake Park November 8-9 and 15-16. SUBMITTED BY: Carol Kriegler, Project Assistant Mike Bouthliet, Park and Public Works Superintendent REVIEWED BY: Susan Hoyt, City Administrator _______________________________________________________________________ SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUESTED: The city council is being asked to conduct a random drawing for the purpose of selecting individuals to participate in the deer harvest being conducted in Sunfish Lake Park November 8-9 and 15-16. The harvest is being conducted in an effort to keep the area deer population in balance with available habitat. Notice of the deer harvest event and opportunity to participate was made through the city website, several newspapers, and the city newsletter. Entries were limited to Lake Elmo residents. Thirty-five entries were received by the October 1 deadline. The council is being asked to select 10 entries by random drawing with the first 8 selections being designated as hunters and the last 2 selections being designated as alternates. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Earlier this year, the city council approved a deer harvest to be conducted in Sunfish Lake Park in November 2008 in conjunction with the Lake Elmo Park Reserve deer harvest. The goal of the hunt is to reduce the deer population in the two parks by 100 deer, resulting in a population of 15 to 25 deer per square mile. This has been a 15 year on-going partnership between the county and the city to control the deer population. The deer harvest will be conducted in conjunction with the Lake Elmo Park Reserve harvest, with assistance of the DNR, in the two parks over two weekends in November (November 8-9, and 15 & 16). A number of precautions will be in place
to ensure that potential park visitors will not enter the parks during the hunt, including extensive signing of park entrances and boundaries. Deer populations have been growing steadily in Washington County and throughout the Metropolitan area for the last 30 years. In order to keep deer populations in balance with available habitat, collective efforts between the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources,
metropolitan cities, park agencies, sportsmen's organizations, and private citizens have been developed and implemented. The Washington County Parks Division, with assistance from the MN DNR, recommends the use
of a “special hunt” to manage deer populations within the Lake Elmo Park Reserve and adjacent Sunfish Lake Park. MN DNR wildlife managers estimate that upwards of 200 deer are in the
park areas based on a 2008 aerial count of 153 and the assumption that 30% of the actual deer population is missed through aerial surveys. A population of this size causes significant damage to trees and shrubs in the parks due to browsing and also poses a traffic hazard as deer cross nearby highways. A controlled hunt in the parks should remove significant numbers of deer from
the parks, while also dispersing deer into areas where they may be harvested by other hunters, thereby increasing the overall effectiveness of the harvest.