by RORY MCCARTY

Senior Reporter

A meeting on deer management held by the Michigan United Conservation Clubs and Department of Natural Resources will be held Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Meadow Brook Hall.

The meeting is part of a statewide tour which will, among other things, address Rochester Hills’ approach to preventing deer-car collisions. The previously imposed deer cull was halted due largely to public outcry. City councilman Mike Webber also said that the effort hadn’t been as successful as he had hoped.

According to MUCC resource policy specialist David Nyberg, the Meadow Brook Hall meeting will give regular citizens the opportunity to talk to a deer advisory team comprised of experts in a diverse range of fields affected by the deer problem. Nyberg said that the MUCC approached the DNR last year to create a deer management program, part of which included the creation of the Michigan Deer Advisory Team.

“Part of that group’s job is to go out and talk to citizens about what concerns them,” Nyberg said.

Nyberg said the meeting will begin with a DNR representative explaining what is currently going on, and then the floor will be opened up for citizen comments.

In recent weeks, outcry from some Rochester Hills residents has been enough to put together a petition to attempt to have Rochester Hills city council president Greg Hooper and councilman J. Martin Brennan removed from office. Cooper and Brennan were two of the four council members who voted for the deer cull.

Nyberg said all of the comments from the meeting will be documented, and the Deer Advisory Team will incorporate it into a recommendation that will be sent to the Natural Resource Commission.

Nyberg said that the deer management plan is comprehensive for many issues.

“Issues affecting people in Oakland County are going to be drastically different from those in the U.P.,” he said. “Every region in Michigan — whether you’re concerned about a deer eating your shrubs or the size of antlers on a buck — has concerns.”

The meeting will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and will be open to the public.