Hi Island Dwellers,
Here is the latest communication from the State on the BI Tick situation. More tick sampling is planned for this summer and fall. The testing from last week showed a decline in the number of ticks collected, but this could be due to the life cycle of the tick and where they are currently residing. At this time of year they may be lower in the grass and brush, being in the larvae stage.
In addition a meeting was held at the North Hero School on Monday evening June 6th. Dr Patsy Tasler and John "The Bug Man" made a presentation to the Select Board, other town officials and residents. They reported that BI's dense deer population provides a big well for the last feeding cycle required for the ticks to populate. Their serious advice was to apply body protection on our clothing and do daily body inspections. Yard improvements and mouse feeding stations were encouraged. Bottom line, the ticks are here to stay so we need to have an action plan in place.
I asked the Town Select Board if there would be any help from the town to curb this problem on BI. It had been pointed out that the mouse feeding stations were very costly and unless we curb the problem on BI other North Hero territory possessions will also be effected. I got a short "NO" and "More study needs to be done" from the chairman of the meeting. Apparently at this point in the meeting they had an agenda to stay on and couldn't provide any more time to talk about this situation. They did make it a point to warn the Lister's who are scheduled to go to BI this summer to be careful of the ticks. I was asked if we (BI residents) were notifying other people about this situation. The State answered that we are being very diligent. Other than that question I didn't get a warm feeling of concern for the BI people and concluded that as far as North Hero is concerned we are on our own.
Could it be possible that the Killington plan to become part of New Hampshire could provide a game plan for BI to become independent of North Hero?
David Bray
"Pierce, Mary" <MPierce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Subject: RE: FW: Butler Island survey 6/2/05
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 15:59:38 -0400
From: "Pierce, Mary" <MPierce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "DAVID BRAY" <davidliza@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: "Tassler, Patricia" <PTassle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Jon Turmel" <jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"alan" <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<alangraham@xxxxxxx>
David, Thanks for the offer to help. We really don't need that information in order assess the presence of Lyme disease on the island. We try not to collect information that may be identifying when we really don't need it for our epidemiological follow-up.
We really do appreciate your offer of assistance.
Mary
Hi Mary,
Thanks for the info. I'm passing this on to the people at Butler Island through our link at
list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Would it be helpful to you and your associates if we could identify the locations on Butler Island where residents, who contracted Lyme Disease, have camps? I can fax a copy of the locations if you can give me a fax number.
Thanks,
David Bray
"Pierce, Mary" <MPierce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
David and Barry,
Here is a map and brief written summary of our trip to Butler Island
yesterday. Alan Graham wrote it.
I hope you both enjoy the weekend!
Mary
-----------------
On Thursday, June 2, Jon Turmel and Alan Graham from the Agency of
Agriculture and Mary Pierce from the Department of Health flagged for
ticks on Butler Island. Four sites were surveyed for ticks: Two sites on
the northeastern shore of Butler Island, one site on the southern most
tip of the island, and a forth site on the western shore of the island.
Two 100 meter transects were established at the first and fourth sites.
Over the course of 3 hours on the island, 8 black legged ticks were
collected (2 nymphs, 4 females, 2 males). The weather was warm (80 F)
and sunny. The first transect had no ticks while the second transect had
two ticks. The rest of the
ticks were found by random dragging with tick
flags at each site. All ticks will be tested for Lyme disease at the
Vermont Agency of Agriculture Laboratory in Waterbury.
We hope to make a second survey of Butler Island in mid to late June. At
this time we will use small mammal live traps to survey tick larva and
nymphs on rodents. We will also do some additional tick flagging on the
ground. White footed mice (at night) and chipmunks (during the day) will
be trapped, inspected for ticks, and then released. A tiny tissue sample
from rodent ear tips will be taken and used to look for the presence of
Lyme disease organisms in the mouse tissue. Research scientists at the
Medical Center at the University of Maine have offered to do this assay
for us and will look for various strains of Lyme disease that may be
present on Butler Island. They are doing a survey like this on several
of Maine's coastal islands and would like to include Butler Island
in
this study. Nymph deer ticks will be pooled together from a single
animal and tested for Lyme disease.
We also hope to make a fall survey for adult deer ticks on Butler Island
on or around October 15, which is the time of the year when the adult
ticks begin to look for another host.
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