| Sheffield Island: Deer Deaths and Deer Damage By Hal Brown A bloated deer population on Sheffield Island has led to winter starvation and death for young deer and possibly ruinous privation for bird species nesting on the island. It's unlikely the offshore deer population will cut back any time soon. Measures to thin the deer herd by hunting are bound up in governmental red tape, awaiting a management plan for the Stewart B. McKinney Wildlife Refuge to be completed by 2002. The refuge controls the entire 67-acre island except for a 31/2- acre parcel occupied by the Sheffield Island Lighthouse and grounds. "We certainly have a tremendous deer overgrazing problem on Sheffield Island," said refuge manager Bill Kolodnicki. "This year we've found over 17 starved young deer dead. We also found severe damage to the vegetation. There is a problem in terms of the deer starving to death and also with the destruction the deer are doing to the vegetation. Without that vegetation birds can't nest and plants can't grow." The damage is evident inshore on Sheffield, once off the lighthouse grounds a deer scares up early during a Fish and Wildlife Service look-see on the island to scout a site for a walking trail. Walking through a wooded area, FWS outdoor recreation Jennifer Brown points out something not immediately obvious, but important in understanding what's happening with the deer on the island. "All the trees at deer height have no leaves," she said, "they eat everything. It's sad, they just end up starving." The nature of the islands is such that deer can move between Sheffield Island and Shea Island with ease. Even at high tide the passage between is very shallow. Deer, though, aren't likely to make the reverse migration to the mainland, however bad conditions. "What would you want to do?" asked FWS biological technician Tom Caffrey gesturing across the water to Norwalk's urban shoreline. "Stay here with all the others of your species, or try to make a go over there." Kolodnicki said any recommendation for thinning the deer herd will be wrapped up with a 1997 law that requires all wildlife refuges to write a Comprehensive Conservation Plan for its territory. The McKinney refuge should be holding hearings regarding the plan in 2002, he said. The deer-denuded plant life doesn't provide nesting material for the island's birds. Kolodnicki said the refuge's islands, located far offshore, are important to birds especially, but the birds face enemies besides deer there. "These islands, particularly Sheffield and Chimmons are very critical because if we can keep raccoons and rats off those islands, these islands are probably the only safe places that the snowy egrets can nest," Kolodnicki said. "If you go to Cockenoe (Island) over by Westport just outside the Norwalk Archipelago you'll find several hundred Snowy Egrets and Great Egrets nesting. That used to be the case on Chimmons (island) until raccoons and rats came in." Chimmons Island's bird population has been decimated. It's two islands up the coast from Sheffield Island. Raccoons get to the offshore islands the same way the deer population has, they swim. Rats clinging to debris "raft" to the islands. "Until those rats and raccoons are eliminated from the island so these birds can next, the birds are just at the mercy of the raccoons. Raccoons just climb up the tree and eat the young alive." |
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