Drought Sends Animals Out of Woods, Onto Roads

Thursday, September 20, 2007

DEER-VEHICLE COLLISIONS

Drought Sends Animals Out of Woods, Onto Roads

Deer-vehicle collisions have risen the past few years in urban areas of Montgomery County, and this summer's drought may be sending more deer into the roads.

"I mean, even the weeds are hurting. Things are really tough out there for wildlife," said Chuck Schuster, agricultural education extension coordinator for the Maryland Cooperative Extension office in Derwood.

In addition, deer are often finding neighborhoods to be better homes than woodlands.

"In a lot of ways, a suburban area is probably a better habitat for deer. It provides them better food than a natural forest area," said Rob Gibbs, natural resources manager for the Montgomery Department of Parks. "Deer are really creatures of forest edge. We make a lot of forest edge when we develop suburbia."

Residents in down-county areas such as Takoma Park, who rarely reported deer problems 10 years ago, are now regularly calling authorities, Gibbs said. Concerns about deer accidents, crop browsing, and destruction of home landscaping and other vegetation used to center primarily in rural areas.

Upper Montgomery, "which has had a lot of deer for quite a while," has seen deer population remain the same, Gibbs said, due in part to managed hunts, contraception and other population-management techniques.

A county report shows that deer-vehicle collisions, which spiked from 1994 to 2002, declined slightly over the past four years. But crashes involving deer in urban areas increased over the same period.

-- PATRICIA M. MURRET, Gazette Staff Writer

BETHESDA

Library Hopes New Parking System Deters Sneaks

County library and parking officials think they've got it right this time. They are preparing to unveil the latest parking system at the Bethesda branch that will provide patrons with free, monitored parking while deterring others from using the lot.

Last summer, parking meters were removed from the lot after a Montgomery County Council resolution that called for free parking at all county libraries. Non-library users looking for downtown parking began filling the lot, prompting calls from library patrons for a better parking plan.

The new system, which will go into effect in the fall, will require library patrons to validate their parking inside the building.

Library visitors will park in numbered spaces and then enter the space number at an unstaffed kiosk. Spaces will be validated for up to two hours. Those who wish to stay longer can do so but will have to reenter their number at the kiosk.

"We certainly expect it to work well," said Rick Siebert, the county's chief of parking operations. "It seems relatively easy to operate, and it's not a long walk from your car to the library, so remembering your space number shouldn't be difficult."

The Bethesda branch was the only library in the county that didn't have free parking until the County Council approved free parking last year at all of the county's 21 full-service libraries.

The library's manager, Kay Bowman, said she hopes the kiosk plan will reduce the impact of non-library parking.

"I think that because you actually have to come into the library, it will deter most people," she said. "But there will still be some people that abuse it."

Bowman said the library is dependent on county workers to enforce parking restrictions. "This will only be successful if it's monitored," she said. "There will be some give and take at the beginning, getting adjusted, but if it's not monitored, it's worthless."

Parking tickets for violators will be $50, Bowman said.

-- BRADFORD PEARSON, Gazette Staff Writer