Seneca White Deer

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For anyone who hasn't seen the latest issue of Life in the Finger Lakes:

The Plight of the White Deer
by John Adamski

An agreement between industrial developers and environmentalists is good news for a rare herd of deer.

In April 1941, to prepare for our country’s engagement in World War II, the federal government used eminent domain to seize 10,600 acres of mostly productive farmland from 105 landowners atop the hill that separates Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. The War Department approved the munitions project in June, and by July construction of the Seneca Ordinance Depot was well underway. By the end of that year, 8,000 workers had built nearly 500 concrete storage bunkers, called igloos, six aboveground magazines and 70 miles of roads. Although some phases of work took two more years, the depot was ready to begin its primary mission of “receipt, storage, maintenance, and supply” of military ammunition by the end of 1941.


To secure the area – nearly 4 miles wide and 8 miles long – the Army erected 24 miles of 12-foot-high chain link fence. It not only served to keep intruders out but also to keep unintended captives in. Among those captives was a small group of whitetail deer, one or more of which carried a rare recessive gene for all-white coats. By 1950, that gene became dominant and began to propagate a herd of snow-white deer that numbers around 300 animals today, the largest herd of white deer in the world. The Army, realizing that something unique was taking place, issued orders protecting the white deer. They have since become the unofficial symbol of what was later called the Seneca Army Depot.


The captive deer population began to expand dramatically after the base was fenced, but hunting was not permitted until the fall of 1956. During the previous winter, more than 1,000 weak and sickened deer succumbed to the combined effects of an over-browsed range and severe winter weather conditions. In an effort to maintain a healthy and stable population level, the Army developed a deer management plan in collaboration with Cornell University and the New York State Conservation Department, forerunner of today’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Recommendations included an annual deer hunt by servicemen to keep the population below 900 animals, which was determined to be the maximum carrying capacity of the range. Initially, only brown deer were hunted, but more recently some white deer were being harvested as well. A population census is taken by helicopter twice each year, counting brown deer during winter and white deer after the snow melts.


According to John Cleary, base transition coordinator and chief of security, “The Seneca Depot herd is the most-studied group of deer in the world.” Because they are captive yet still wild, the animals have provided unique opportunities for scientific experiments ranging from genetic studies and population dynamics to contraceptive testing. In the latter study, fertility control was determined to be too costly and impractical to be an effective method of managing the population; regulated hunting has proven to be the best option.

A lesson in munitions storage


The depot supported military operations during World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and Desert Storm. But following a recommendation by the Department of Defense in 1995, the installation was decommissioned in 1999 and finally closed in 2001. At that time, plans for reuse projected that “most of the property will be transferred to the state for a wildlife refuge; some parts of the base will be transferred to various prison and correctional authorities.”


Aside from endless rows of Quonset-shaped storage igloos and their surrounding buffer area, which together occupy three-quarters of the installation, the Army’s major development impact had been concentrated in the southeast quadrant of the base along NYS Route 96. Each of the 519 aboveground igloos, built of reinforced concrete 4 feet thick, is buried under an additional 3 feet of soil to help contain any accidental explosion from within. These bunkers – 26 feet wide, 60 feet long, and 13 feet high at the center – were originally used to store munitions, small arms and anti-tank mines; and more recently, rockets and missiles. By design, vegetation, brush, and trees freely grow wild on top of the earthen mounds, enabling them to blend into the landscape in an eerie sort of way. The buffer area is even more heavily wooded. Deer, turkeys, coyotes, foxes, beavers, and other wildlife, even bald eagles, have free range in this 7,500-acre enclosure, known as the Conservation Area. Deer, both brown and white, can be seen bedding on top of an igloo from time to time.

Creating jobs


Since 2001, a 750-cell maximum-security prison has been built and is operational, but the wildlife refuge part of that plan has yet to happen. Cleary said both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New York DEC looked at the property but stepped aside for different reasons. Except for the “Q” Area, a 700-acre section contaminated by over 40 years of munitions demilitarization, the Army has given title of the depot property to the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency (SCIDA). The “Q” Area is currently being decontaminated by the Army Corps of Engineers, and will be handed over when those operations are completed.


The mission of the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency (SCIDA) is to attract and encourage economic development that results in the creation of employment opportunities and enhances the quality of life and general prosperity for Seneca County residents. With a variety of financing and funding options at hand, the agency can assist in developing both public and private sector projects that fulfill the needs of the local business community. Right now, an economic shot-in-the-arm is precisely what Seneca County needs. According to Glenn Cooke, SCIDA’s executive director, “When the base closed, one-third of the county’s workforce opportunity was lost, creating a major economic challenge.” The depot, once the county’s largest employer, provided 1,200 civilian jobs. Cooke plans to reverse those job losses by encouraging industrial developers to make maximum use of the immense site, according to SCIDA’s master plan.


Complicating SCIDA’s master plan is the military infrastructure left behind by the Army. The agency intends to demolish the Army’s complex of warehouses, which are in disrepair, to make room for new industrial projects. But removal of 519 igloos at an estimated cost of $50,000 each is not in the cards, which is why the state walked away. Any developer considering the site would have to somehow deal with the igloos, disregard them, or put them to use. Another issue is the deterioration of the 66-year-old perimeter security fence and internal road system.

Saving the white deer


Dennis Money, chairman of the board of directors and one of the six founders of the non-profit group Seneca White Deer Inc. (SWD), envisions a different plan, one that would more closely match the original projection to turn most of the base into a conservation area. Best known for his success stories with the Rochester Peregrine Falcon Project and the New York State River Otter Project, Money has undertaken a challenge that is monumentally larger and logistically more complex than both of those combined. Together with another SWD group member, conservationist, wildlife photographer, and former DEC staffer Lee Brun, Money is spearheading a movement to turn the base into the Cold War Museum and Conservation Park. The park would showcase both the military installation and white deer herd as an eco-tourist attraction. Their theory is that tourist dollars generated by their plan would equal or even exceed the industrial revenue sought by Cooke’s plan. The park would provide local jobs, too. Bus tours of the depot that the two men guided as a tourism experiment over two weekends last October were sold out.


Money and Brun are passionate enough about their proposal to have personally invested thousands of dollars to make it happen. So has the rest of the group.


Empire Green Biofuels, a Newark-based firm whose parent company is in Goshen, California, reached an agreement with SCIDA to purchase 362 acres to build an ethanol plant. That agreement includes an option to buy another 4,500 acres, more than half of the Conservation Area, after the company fulfills an initial investment condition of $75 million. Corn, willows, switch grass, and other organic materials needed to fuel the facility would be grown on land between the igloos. Empire Board Chairman Edward Primrose plans to begin construction of the plant later this year.


Responding to the concerns of SWD, Cooke says that SCIDA is equally concerned with the welfare of the white deer. He says that final agreements will include a wildlife management plan, which Empire Green Biofuels would be bound to maintain, along with 75 percent of the perimeter fence. Cornell and Syracuse Universities are each contributing to the preparation of that plan. Cooke sees this as “a terrific opportunity, providing a significant investment for Seneca County while preserving the white deer herd.” The company’s investors said that they would be willing to consider allowing wildlife tours.


In fact in April, Empire entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with SWD to conduct public wildlife tours on the premises. The tours, which will run mostly on weekdays and holidays, will begin after the construction of the ethanol facility is nearly completed, sometime in 2008 or 2009. The tours will be coordinated between Empire and SWD.


“It is important to develop this project as one of the ‘greenest’ ethanol plants in the country, while also maintaining the ecosystem and wildlife habitat within the depot,” said Ejnar Knudsen, executive vice president of Cilion, Empire’s parent corporation. In the press release announcing the Memorandum, Knudsen said that Empire has been in negotiations with SCIDA to develop a viable plan to maintain the wildlife habitat and to conduct research on various types of grasses and trees that serve as feedstock for the ethanol plant.


Dennis Money noted that the plans do, indeed, include SWD. The organization will be a coalition partner when Empire builds its proposed visitors center, and will assist in providing educational and wildlife programs. “We are pleased to be selected to partner with Empire Biofuels on eco-touring within the depot,” he said “We believe that opening up this unique habitat to the public will create a renewed interest in wildlife and green area conservation, with the added bonus of viewing one of America’s treasures, the Seneca white deer herd.


The coalition agreement between Empire and SWD is conditioned upon Empire’s successful receipt of all necessary permits to undertake construction in 2008 or 2009 of the ethanol plant, biomass steam production and biomass plantings.



The Ghost Deer

Native American lore has always held that an all-white animal like a bear, a bison, or a deer, has been given spiritual significance by its Creator and should be revered and protected. A Chickasaw legend says that a white deer is indeed sacred, and a white deerskin – rare and priceless – would be the bridegroom’s ultimate gift for making his bride’s wedding dress, if he could only obtain one. The Lenape, or Delaware Indians, consider any white deer to be a sacred spirit, or Ghost Deer.

Whitetail deer are normally brown and white, with some differences in the brown coloration based on seasonal changes between their summer and winter coats. But on rare occasions there are more distinct color variations that can range from all black to all white and even include an irregular spotted pattern of brown and white. The black color phase is called melanism; the spotted description is known as piebald. All-white coats are the result of either of two conditions: albinism or genetics.

Melanism is the result of an over-production of melanin, the chemical that determines the degree of an animal’s color pigmentation. Melanistic deer are very dark, or nearly black, and do not have the whitetail’s typical white face, throat, and tail markings. Albinism is just the opposite; an albino deer produces little or no melanin and therefore lacks any color pigmentation whatsoever. In addition to its pure white coat, the albino’s eyes, nose and skin are pink and its hooves are gray. Its eyes are sensitive to daylight and its vision is poor. Not all white deer are albinos, however. Piebald is a more common occurrence among whitetail deer than either melanism or albinism. These partially white deer differ from albinos because at least some of their cells produce melanin, which is responsible for their pinto-like brown and white spotted coats.

The Seneca white deer are not albinos. Their coats are the result of a genetic mutation and possess the same white color pigmentation as polar bears, mountain goats and Alaskan Dall Sheep. Their white coats are inherited as a dominant trait and can occur in either sex. Unlike albino deer, the Seneca white deer have brown eyes and hooves. Some have brown fawns. It’s common to see a brown doe with white fawns as well; or any doe with one brown and one white fawn. Unlike albinos, which are ostracized and rejected by the regular members of whitetail deer society, the white and brown deer at Seneca Depot freely co-mingle and interbreed.

According to records, a single white deer was spotted on the base in 1951. Two more appeared in 1956. The base commander issued orders for their protection and the propagation of white deer at Seneca Depot was underway. The herd grew from seven white animals in 1960 to 135 by 1968. The present population numbers around 300, with limited hunting allowed. If not for the protection afforded by the Army and its security fence, these deer would probably not exist today. Some scientists consider the mutations to be inferior and feel that they should not be protected.

The adult white deer at Seneca Depot are truly snow-white. Fawns are usually blond or cream-colored, or sometimes even pale gray, but they display the same pattern of white spots that are typical in fawns born of normal brown deer. They become pure white after shedding their first winter coats during their second spring. Antler development among white bucks is also noteworthy. A young buck’s first growth often produces spikes of differing lengths, which sometimes form unusual curves or angles. In following years, growth is more normal. However, white bucks do not seem to be capable of producing the magnificent racks sometimes carried by trophy brown bucks.

http://www.lifeinthefingerlakes.com/rea ... ticle1.php
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Army depot development plan comes under fire
By Neil Chaffie
Special to The Journal

VARICK — Opposition is beginning to mount over a Waterloo company's plan to acquire 2,300 acres of land at the former Seneca Army Depot and to build both a conservation lodge and business center.

L.M. Sessler Excavating & Wrecking, Inc. said it would invest at least $l.3 million of its own funds during the first three years and would employ eight people. The construction phase would involve 20 employees. The acreage involved is in the “conservation area” at the northern end of the nearly 11,000-acre depot, in the Town of Varick.

A public hearing on a financing package is to be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, at the Varick Town Hall, 4782 Route 96. The Seneca County Industrial Development Agency is sponsoring the hearing.

The agency wants to hear what the public feels about sales and use tax exemptions for building materials and supplies, a property tax abatement or payment in lieu of taxes, and a mortgage tax exemption. Action on the financing package would come at a future meeting of the agency.
Representing Sessler are Jane Shaffer, Craig Sessler and Vern Sessler Jr., all of Waterloo. What they have proposed, in addition to acquiring the 2,300 acres of land, are plans to clear five 10-acre building lots for future development. Access roads would be built, and gas service, water, sewer and electrical services would be added.

The company would lease the overall 2,300 acres with an option to buy. Construction of a conservation lodge and business center would be part of a second-phase development.

Town of Varick supervisor Jane E. Teichner, one of those objecting to the Sessler plan, said she has urged the state Department of Environmental Conservation to take over the depot's conservation area and continues to feel that is the way to go. She charged that opposition to the Sessler plan is growing throughout the area and has been notifying local officials with a series of letters.

Ed Sayres, president and CEO of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said his organization “cannot condone a proposal that sacrifices local wildlife or takes advantage of taxpaying citizens simply to ingratiate members of an elite society.” Sayres said in an e-mail that society members and friends are being urged to attend the Dec. 10 meeting.

Peter Muller, vice president of Wildlife Watch Inc., said the Sessler plan “is not in the best interest of the Town of Varick.”

“The ecosystem is also best served if the natural biodiversity is maintained. That approach is also consistent with the Town of Varick's proposed zoning code and the towns of Fayette and Varick comprehensive development plan,” Muller added. Town of Romulus supervisor David M. Kaiser said just prior to a Town Board meeting Wednesday night that he also was hearing from concerned constituents. He did not indicate how he felt about the Sessler plan.

Muller and Teichner both noted the increased interest in wildlife watching and suggested the depot acreage might better be devoted to facilities for viewing a unique herd of white deer, wild turkeys, migrating waterfowl and other species at home on the depot grounds.

Figures supplied by Muller's Wildlife Watch Inc. showed wildlife watchers in 2006 numbered 71 million participants, while there were 12.5 million hunters.

Originally published December 3, 2007

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pb ... 002/NEWS01
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I'm sick to my stomach about this. I did a little more research and I came across this organization and a bit more information:
http://humanevoters.org/News.Alerts/seneca.htm

I don't know anything about the League of Humane Voters, but the information on their site confirmed my suspicions about this particular proposed development. It's a canned hunting facility and while I can't say what I really think of one of the major players on a public forum, I can say that I think that it would be a huge mistake to allow this to happen. I would very much like to attend the meeting next Thursday morning.
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I'd be interested to know more. This white deer thing could be a huge draw for tourism, but the money is not there to promote it and it sounds like it's being sold to the highest bidder- with little or no ethics being applied.
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DEC Proposes Adding Protected Wetlands in Seneca County
Public Comments Accepted Until February 15

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today proposed that 26 wetland areas in the towns of Varick and Romulus, Seneca County, be included in the state's stringent oversight of critical freshwater wetland ecosystems. The wetlands being proposed for mapping - meaning they would be subject to state protection - are primarily located within the boundaries of the former Seneca Army Depot.

Approximately 266 acres of wetlands on and near the former Army Depot property are currently mapped. DEC's proposal would significantly expand the protected area by increasing the mapped wetlands an additional 2,100 acres.

In the fall of 2007, the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) passed a resolution accepting an application from L.M. Sessler Excavating and Wrecking, Inc. to develop a portion of the former Seneca Army Depot known as "The Conservation Area." Plans include construction of a conservation lodge and the development of four or five 10-acre parcels for future use. While many details of the proposal are unknown at this time, it is possible the proposal may impact freshwater wetlands on the former Seneca Army Depot.

Region 8 Director Paul D'Amato said, "The Depot area contains important natural resources and as development pressures increase, it is important that they be protected. The amended maps are a critical step in ensuring that any permit applications for proposals at the Depot and neighboring wetland areas receive a thorough and comprehensive environmental review to adequately protect the wetlands and wildlife habitat."

Wetlands naturally cleanse and purify water, provide crucial open space, and protect our communities against flooding by retaining and reducing the volume and velocity of water entering our streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs following a storm event.

The Freshwater Wetlands Act provides DEC with the authority to regulate certain activities that take place within wetlands 12.4 acres or greater in size, certain smaller wetlands of unusual local importance, and 100-foot buffer areas around mapped wetlands. If proposals seek to disturb or otherwise impact state regulated wetland areas, a DEC freshwater wetlands permit must be obtained. The Act also authorizes DEC to amend maps in order to add, modify or delete wetlands represented on the maps. More information about wetlands and DEC's role can be found at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4937.html on the agency's website.

DEC will be accepting written comments on the proposed Freshwater Wetland Map amendments until February 15, 2008. Maps showing the proposed revisions are available at the Region 8 DEC office, 6274 East Avon-Lima Rd, Avon, NY 14414-9519; and at the clerk's office in the village, town and county where the change is taking place. Comments on the proposed Freshwater Wetland revisions may be sent to: NYSDEC Region 8 Office, 6274 E. Avon-Lima Rd, Avon, NY 14414-9519; fax (585) 226-9789; or, e-mail at: [email protected]

A public notice announcing the wetland amendments appeared in the most recent Environmental Notice Bulletin ( http://www.dec.ny.gov/enb/40883.html). In addition, affected landowners and local governments will be notified, and legal notification will be published in the local newspapers serving that area. Upon finalization and publication of the official map amendment notice, no activity subject to Freshwater Wetland regulations in the proposed area may be initiated without a permit from DEC.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/41110.html
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ShanaD

This seems like it is very good news
Tarkus

The D&C (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) published a front page article about the Depot entitled "Battleground."

They outlined some of the proposed businesses and the potential impact on the deer. I do not work with Mr. Money's organization ( http://www.senecawhitedeer.org/ ), but his efforts led me to propose a business idea that I thought would have the interests of the economy and the wildlife in mind. It seems that the idea has gone seriously awry.

I sent this as a "letter to the editor" to D&C (limited to 175 words):
I proposed Project "White Deer” to Governor Spitzer’s gubernatorial campaign in 2006 in response to WIRED’s “Wall Street West” in Allentown, Pa.. I proposed creating a New York disaster preparedness data center for Wall Street firms.

The Seneca Army Depot is geographically remote from New York City. Essential power and telecommunications could be upgraded at the former base and modern, military grade perimeter security could be added for a facility that had limited human presence. I discussed the fiber with Finger Lakes Technology Group following a meeting of the Ontario County Broadband Committee. FLTG, private companies and Project ION had the necessary fiber to obtain diverse path routing to Manhattan.

My intent was to improve the economy of the Finger Lakes Region with remote disaster preparedness for a vital New York institution and to preserve the unique wildlife within the confines of the former base. Placing a private hunting facility in which foreign and domestic individuals carry weapons near a “secure” data center would compromise the very security that the center was meant to preserve.
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That is an interesting proposal, Tarkus. This is the first that I've heard of it. The entire situation is such a mess right now. My stand on it is that I welcome development to improve our economy, but not at the cost of the existing wildlife and habitats. I am strongly against the Sessler/Battaglia plan because it's obvious that it is intended to only benefit the parties involved. I have no knowledge of, or dealings with the Sessler family, but I can absolutely say that I want no part of anything that Mr. Battaglia is involved with! Oh, welcome to the community!
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