Advocates Worry That Essex County Deer Cull May Return In 2023

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Will Essex County’s annual deer cull be revived in 2023? A group of advocates from West Orange say they’re worried that county officials are taking steps to lay the groundwork for its return – and they’re hopping mad about it.

Over the past decade, registered hunters have killed thousands of animals during the county's annual deer management program, which aims to "revitalize the forest ecology" by reducing the number of deer.

The culls have been held in county-run wooded areas, including South Mountain Reservation in Maplewood, Millburn and West Orange, and Hilltop Reservation in Cedar Grove, North Caldwell and Verona.

The cull was canceled in 2021 and 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are focusing our attention on staffing our vaccination and testing sites, bringing our mobile outreach program to schools, houses of worship and community centers and making sure our residents have access to programs that keep them safe, healthy and protected,” Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said last year.

However, during the Aug. 3 meeting of the Essex County Board of Commissioners, its members voted to pass a resolution that authorized the Essex County Department of Parks to apply to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife for a special deer management permit.

The resolution reads:

WHEREAS, an overpopulation of white-tailed deer in some of the Essex County parks has resulted in over browsing of native vegetation in those parks; and

WHEREAS, that overpopulation has also resulted in significant browse damage to residential landscaping and an increased incidence of deer-related motor vehicle accidents in the neighborhoods surrounding those County parks; and

WHEREAS, over browsing by deer threatens to destroy the ecology of the Essex County parks by elimination of the herbaceous and shrub layers of the forest and precluding the possibility of natural forest regeneration; and

WHEREAS, the County of Essex has previously obtained a Special Deer Management Permit and implemented a plan for managing deer in the South Mountain Reservation, and Hilltop Reservation, thereby already removing significant numbers of deer from those parks; and

WHEREAS, the County of Essex has drafted a set of Program Guidelines for continuing in 2023 to reduce the population of deer in the South Mountain Reservation and Hilltop Reservation that utilizes the same methodology used successfully in those parks in 2010 to 2022; and

WHEREAS, the Essex County Board of County Commissioners endorses the implementation of a Community Based Deer Management Plan, with the goal of reducing the density of deer so as to minimize damage to residential landscaping, minimize the number of deer-related motor vehicle accidents, and enable natural regeneration of the Essex County Park System's hardwood forest; now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Essex County Board of County Commissioners that it hereby supports an application to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife for a Special Deer Management Permit to conduct deer management activities in 2023 in South Mountain Reservation and Hilltop Reservation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Essex County Board of County Commissioners authorizes the County Executive, through the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, to prepare an application for a Special Deer Management Permit and to administer and conduct those deer management activities in January through February of 2023, according to the Program Guidelines developed for the 2023 Deer Management Program and annexed hereto; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be provided to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and the Borough of North Caldwell and the Townships of Cedar Grove, Maplewood, Millburn, Verona, and West Orange.

But despite the language of the resolution, not everyone is convinced the annual hunt is needed in Essex County.

Prior to the commissioner meeting, the board members of nonprofit advocacy group Our Green West Orange released the following statement, which denounced the possibility of restarting the cull in 2023:

“We strongly oppose gunmen in our suburban reservations killing our deer. We are startled to see that you may be permitting this once again in Eagle Rock Reservation in addition to South Mountain and Hilltop and ask you to vote NO on the resolution on [the Aug. 3] agenda. Our reservations are meant for hiking, not for killing. Isn’t there enough violence in our county without having to hear gunshots in our backyards or watch dead carcasses being carried out of our beloved reservation?”

The group continued:

“Culling deer is an inhumane approach to deer management. Most importantly, the package that is being voted on is missing essential information such as the Permit Application and Program Guidelines that is typically part of this package that comes before you. Therefore you are voting on a program without knowing the exact numbers of deer to be killed, how those numbers were chosen, what the goals are and the evidence to prove it is necessary and will work. Without seeing the program guidelines and permit application itself in this current proposal, there is no guarantee that Eagle Rock will not be part of the culling program. As our elected representatives, you must be able to review such documents and the public has a right to have full information and to ask questions. Even the Fish and Wildlife Management guidelines says there should be an open public decision-making process. Currently, it appears the county is skirting a democratic, transparent proceeding.”

“We urge you to stop wasting our taxpayer money and spend the $1 million or so that you have wasted over the years to plant trees (and use deer protection as you do in Brookdale Park, which allows the trees to grow with no issue),” Our Green West Orange stated.

“Use your considerable public outreach to encourage residents to plant deer-resistant vegetation and erect fences and spend county money to pursue non-lethal methods to address car collisions,” the group concluded. “Maintain our reservation and our wildlife. We urge you to halt this process until all the documents are available to you and the public.”

• See related article: Humans vs. Deer In NJ: State Has A 'Zero Density' Population Goal

Reached for comment about the group’s statement, a spokesperson for the Essex County Board of Commissioners gave Patch the following reply:

“To be clear, the passed resolution did not authorize the Essex County Department of Parks to begin the deer management program. It authorized the Essex County Department of Parks to apply to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife for a special deer management permit. A second vote/public hearing before the board is not required. However, prior to the deer management program commencing in 2023, a hearing for approval will take place at the state level with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.”

The spokesperson continued:

“The program guidelines of the community-based deer management plan were part of the resolution package the board voted on. The guidelines were added – and made available to the public – the day of the meeting and were provided to the commissioner board prior to their voting for the adoption of the resolution. The permit application was not part of the package. Typically, it is not part of the package at this stage of the process. Per standard procedure, the commissioner board is presented with the program guidelines and votes to adopt, or deny, a resolution allowing the county’s department of parks to apply for a permit through the state to conduct the deer management program.”

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