Loch Raven Reservoir will be open to deer hunters for the first time this fall to curb an over-population that is threatening the area?s water supply, state and local officials said.
Details of a managed bow hunt have not been worked out, but the first of five seasons could begin Sept. 15, officials said. Loch Raven must be open to hunting to allow its 11-square-mile forest to regenerate, said Kurt Kocher, spokesman for the Baltimore City?s Department of Public Works.
“There?s limited green space, and the purpose of the reservoir, first and foremost, is to provide drinking water to almost 2 million people,” Kocher said. “We?ve got to do what we can to protect it.”
According to a March study, Loch Raven is home to 83 deer per square mile, more than seven times what it can support, said John Markley, a manager at Baltimore County?s Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management.
Markley said deer are gobbling up virtually “every sapling that springs up,” increasing runoff that dumps sediment into the area?s drinking water. The other two city-owned reservoirs ? Gunpowder and Prettyboy ? have been open to deer hunting for 35 years without incident, said Paul Peditto, the state Department of Natural Resources? director of wildlife.
“Those two parcels and literally hundreds just like them have been managed with regulated hunting,” Peditto said. “Despite rumors to the contrary, people don?t get shot by hunters.”
But not everyone is pleased with the decision. Gretta Deterer, president of the Hampstead-based Wildlife Rescue, said pathways, dirt bikers and trash damage the reservoir?s greenery more than the deer.
“It?s a beautiful area, and lots of people go there to enjoy the park, the wildlife, the deer,” Deterer said. “I really don?t think people should be exposed to sharpshooters or finding dead bodies.”
