APR's & CWD in Missouri. A Cautionary Tale

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1 APR's & CWD in Missouri A Cautionary Tale The Concerned Sportsmen of Michigan April 13, 2017

2 THE CONCERNED SPORTSMEN OF MICHIGAN Dedicated to protecting and promoting Michigan's Whitetail Deer resource, through the promotion of responsible, science based policies and regulations. Public Comment Today I'd like to talk a little bit about APR's and CWD and the nexus between the two. When looking at other states that are dealing with CWD, Michigan today seems to most resemble Missouri in 2011 & 2012, when CWD was first discovered in the free ranging deer herd in that state. There may be some valuable lessons to be learned by looking at what they did and also what they did not do, when faced with the threat of CWD. Like Michigan, Missouri had been experimenting with Mandatory APR's in a number of Counties, prior to CWD first being identified. In 2004, APR's were implemented in 32 counties and after 3 years, those regulations were expanded to cover 65 Counties in Missouri. When CWD was first identified in Missouri in 2011, hunters had been hunting under APR's for 7 seasons and the practice of protecting yearling bucks, to advance the buck age structure within the herd, was becoming well entrenched. During normal conditions, the goal of protecting younger bucks and creating greater numbers of older bucks, may be a reasonable one. But when CWD comes into the picture, conditions are no longer normal. From a disease mitigation standpoint, protecting yearling bucks and creating greater numbers of older bucks is the exact opposite of what you want to achieve with your mitigation efforts. When Missouri first identified CWD in the free ranging herd in 2011, they had to decide whether or not to continue with APR's while attempting to limit the spread of the disease. The approach that they took could be viewed as a conservative one. They rescinded APR's in a 6 County CWD containment zone but kept them in place in 59 other Counties in Missouri. For the first three years under that policy, it appeared that the containment efforts were working as only 5 new positives were discovered in 2012 and none were found in There was even some pressure from sportsmen to re-implement APR's in the Containment zone after no new positives were found in As Dr. Straka mentioned last month, however, mitigating CWD is a marathon, not a sprint.

3 In 2014, the number of CWD positive deer almost doubled with 9 new positives and the disease was found in a new county outside of the CWD Containment zone, indicating that it was spreading. In response Missouri expanded the Containment zone and rescinded APR's in 13 more Counties. But they continued to leave APR's in place in 46 other Counties in Missouri. Over the next several years, this pattern would repeat itself, with additional positives being found outside of the established Containment zones and APR's being rescinded in response in more counties every year. It's likely that next year APR's will remain in approx. 30 Counties, with a regulatory map that is starting to resemble a patchwork quilt. In a letter to me, Missouri Biologist Jason Sumners compared these new positives found outside of established Containment zones as "Sparks". His campfire analogy is a good one. You can clear an area immediately around a campfire and under normal conditions that will stop a fire from spreading. But under abnormal conditions, like when it's windy, the wind can carry a spark outside of the area that you cleared and it can start a new fire. Missouri cleared a small area around their CWD fire by rescinding APR's in a limited number of Counties but unfortunately that was not enough and sparks continued to spread into Counties where yearling bucks were being protected by APR's, allowing those sparks to smolder and eventually create new fires. Those new fires create more sparks and the spread is accelerated. The result in Missouri is that in the last 5 years, CWD has spread geographically 150 miles from that original CWD campfire. As we talked about last month, until additional testing occurs in Michigan outside of the current CWD zone, we have no idea how far or if any "sparks" have already spread in Michigan. We currently have several stakeholder groups in Michigan lobbying for the renewal of APR's in 12 Counties in the NLP and for potentially expanding those regulations on a statewide basis. To continue the campfire analogy, that would be analogous to throwing a bucket of gasoline on a smoldering CWD fire. I realize that many hunters who support APR's and who want to see greater numbers of large racked bucks will be unhappy if that does not happen. Their desires are noted. But the unfortunate reality for them is that CWD mitigation efforts and APR's are simply not compatible. I was struck by several comments that I came across recently on a Missouri hunting forum, in a discussion about CWD spreading across other states. Two comments made by Missouri hunters who have been dealing with the disease for six years now, stood out.

4 The first comment was "Someday, when it's established everywhere, people will finally realize how bad CWD really is." The other hunter responded, "Yep, there will be no do-overs". He's exactly right. We have one shot to deal with this disease in the most effective way possible, to attempt to limit the spread and control the prevalence rate. One shot, with no do-overs if we make the wrong decision or ignore the serious reality of this situation. The decisions you make in the next several months will lay the groundwork for what the course of this disease will be over the next 5 or so years. Attached is a map showing the current regulations that we have in the Lower Peninsula. The red circle shows the geographic range into which CWD could potentially spread over the next five years, based on what has actually occurred in Missouri. Instead of taking a piece-meal approach to implementing and rescinding APR's as Missouri did, we support a moratorium on APR's in any county that falls within the 150 mile radius indicated on that map, for the next regulatory cycle. It's vital that we contain those sparks so that the fire does not spread, because, once again, there will be no do-overs. Thank you

5 Missouri Harvest Restrictions In 2004 Missouri implemented an experimental Mandatory Antler Point Restriction in 32 Counties. This regulation was designed to increase harvest pressure on Does and also to protect yearling bucks, to increase the number of bucks reaching older age classes.

6 Missouri Harvest Restrictions After the three year test period, the number of counties subject to MAPR s was expanded to 65. Although the goal of increased doe harvest was not realized in the Northern test Counties, the regulation proved popular among hunters due to increasing numbers of older bucks.

7 Missouri Harvest Restrictions Removed In 2011, the first cloud appeared on the horizon when 5 deer tested positive for CWD. MAPR s were lifted in a six County CWD containment zone. MAPR s had proved popular and many hunters in the containment zone who had been hunting under MAPR s for 7 years continued to practice harvest restrictions on a voluntary basis.

8 Missouri Harvest Restrictions Removed In 2012, 5 deer tested positive and in 2013 zero positives were found. Missouri felt hopeful that the outbreak had been contained and some hunters started to lobby for bringing back MAPR s in the counties where they had been removed. Unfortunately, in 2014,16 new positives were found including one in a county over 100 miles from the location of the index case from Missouri reacted by removing MAPR s from 13 additional counties but left them in place in 46 Counties.

9 Missouri Harvest Restrictions Removed In 2015, 7 more positives were found and the geographic distribution of the disease continued to spread to another county located outside of the established containment zone. In response, Missouri expanded the containment zone and removed MAPR s from 6 additional counties, leaving the harvest regulations in place in 40 Counties.

10 Missouri Harvest Restrictions Removed In 2016, 9 more deer tested positive for CWD and once again the disease took a geographic leap outside of the established containment zone. CWD was found in 2 mature bucks in St. Clair County, approx. 80 miles from the nearest deer previously testing positive for the disease and 150 miles from the original index case from 2011.

11 Missouri Harvest Restrictions (Anticipated) Removed We can anticipate that Missouri will further modify the containment zone this year due to the further geograhic spread of the disease. It s likely that MAPR s will be removed from another 7-8 Counties, which will leave MAPR s in place in Approx. 30 Counties.

12 Current Michigan Harvest Restrictions - MAPR s - Hunters Choice APR s - Mecosta CWD Positives - CWD Containment Zone 5 year spread projection based on actual distance CWD spread in Missouri during the first 5 years after detection.