The study is a collaboration between GVSU, Kent County, and the county’s road commission, and was launched last month with an online public survey, gathering community input on deer-related issues.
“It’s quite a large study. Our aim is to try and take a holistic approach to understand what’s going on with the deer in Kent County and how people are perceiving deer and what human interactions with deer are costing.”
GVSU researcher Dr. Ali Locher says this is done by investigating three facets: ecological – how the deer are thriving? Social – how people feel about deer? And economic – how much are deer incidents costing the public?
“And by putting those pieces together, we can try to delineate zones with common ecology, social perspectives, and economics that the county can then move forward with management.”
Kent County has the highest number of deer/vehicle collisions in the state, so this data will prove invaluable, according to GVSU Professor and researcher Rob Larson.
“This isn’t something that’s typically tried and I think that’s going to set Kent County up for success and it could be modeled throughout the state or even the Great Lakes region.”
You can find a link to the survey here, which runs through December 14th, or you can email your comments to deer@kentcountymi.gov