Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of NC-1005 occurred on February 07, 2003 from 8:15a.m. to 5:30p.m. and February 08, 2003 from 8:15a.m. to 11:00a.m. on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. The meeting was chaired by Rique Campa (Michigan State University) and Dr. Kevin Kephart (South Dakota State University) participated as the Administrative Advisor.

Participants had considerable discussion on research methods and whether NC-1005 project objectives should be amended and if so, how prominent disease issues need to be. Participants discussed the relative advantages of adding a disease focus for attracting funding. Participants discussed how to structure NC-1005 with sufficient flexibility to allow cooperators to exploit interest in an emerging issue [e.g. chronic wasting disease (CWD)] without diluting the emphasis on deer ecology. All recognized the opportunity to assume a leadership role in deer ecology. Most participants thought that, for the time being, current NC-1005 proposed methods were acceptable pending review by Dr. Kephart. Participants wanted methods flexible enough to address CWD epidemiology in wild deer. Consensus was reached to propose the following new title: Impacts of white-tailed deer on society: Integration of landscape ecology and human dimensions to improve management. In addition the committee agreed to propose the following modified objectives: (1) Assess interactions among landscape characteristics, demographics, and behavior of white-tailed deer associated with issues such as the management of populations and disease (e.g., chronic wasting disease, bovine tuberculosis), (2) Determine relationships between stakeholder tolerance of the risks and desires for benefits associated with white-tailed deer and deer management across multiple scales, and (3) Develop communication, outreach, and decision-making strategies to assist in the management of white-tailed deer.

Rique Campa initiated a discussion to review NC-1005 methods. Rique recapped discussions from the meeting in Minneapolis (i.e., as NCT-185) that adopted a philosophy that participants should generate comparable data sets. This would then facilitate analysis of ecological and sociological patterns across the region. Discussion followed on the nature of the baseline data available, common methods for gathering and archiving data, common analysis, and designating data repositories. Discussion was held on when and how to do analyses: suggested that each PI run their own primary analyses and share summary data with the group to look at regional patterns. This strategy may minimize errors in interpretation by other researchers who may not be as familiar with individual animals and ranges. It was suggested to distribute an e-mail survey among PIs to identify the scale(s) at which different members of the committee are working.

Rique Campa called for nominations for the Executive Board. Rique Campa was elected Chair, Bill Clark-Vice Chair, and Joe Arvai- Secretary.

Since this was the first meeting of NC-1005 the project is less than a year old, hence no accomplishments to report at this time. As discussed at the meeting, all PIs will prepare a summary of how study sites were (or are to be) selected in their respective states. The amount of research activities and accomplishments within each respective states will be dependent upon internal funding within institutions and external sources available.

None at this time.