By Nicky Boyette – “We’re not talking about elective surgery. It’s public safety,” Parks Director Justin Huss told the Parks Commission at its Dec. 27 meeting regarding a significant uptick in feral hog activity at Lake Leatherwood City Park.
What especially got the attention of commissioners was the report of a sighting near one of the cabins, which would mean the roaming hogs are rooting closer to park visitors. Huss said he wanted to purchase two traps, costing about $6000 each, right away. One trap would be the Boar Buster corral trap, remotely triggered to drop around a sounder of hogs by a cell phone. The other would be a Game Changer Jr., a slightly different design of a corral trap that is trailer-mounted and more flexible in where it can be stationed.
Huss said there is a hog-trapping program in Arkansas administered by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, but Carroll County has not been involved. Now he sees imminent need. He suggested Parks start its own program and perhaps rent traps to nearby landowners as a way to help recoup some of the expense but also keep the hog-trapping campaign in motion, and said there are landowners interested.
Huss acknowledged there are unknowns associated with his plan such as how much staff time the project would consume and how much corn it would take to lure an entire sounder of hogs into a trap. “We really need eight traps out there. It’s a huge issue.” He said with a quick purchase, trapping could begin in probably two weeks.
Commissioner Steven Foster said the commission would need an itemized budget, and Huss responded that would be difficult because of unknown expenses. For example, once a sounder is trapped and killed, there is hauling away the carcasses. He said the only legitimate way to dispose of the carcasses is to incinerate them, “and how much does that cost?”
Commissioner Jay Fitzsimmons said the commission needs a summary of total costs, but Huss stated, “I need them now.” He admitted there were regrettably some unidentified expenses to be incurred, but there also was an unknown number of feral hogs in an area of hikers and bikers on Parks property.
Chair Bill Featherstone commented the problem would get worse if Parks does not do anything. “It’s like putting a roof on your house. When your roof starts leaking, you don’t wait to fix it.” He said, as a worst case scenario, “We can resell the traps if we don’t like them, so let’s get them.”
Fitzsimmons moved to approve the purchase of two traps not to exceed $15,000, as a capital expense.
The vote to approve the motion was unanimous.
Director’s report
Huss commented there have been a few cabin rentals during the off-season while other cabins are being renovated in preparation for spring visitors. New trails are being planned near Black Bass Lake, and he’s coordinating with the CC Riders on a maintenance plan for other trails during the winter. He mentioned local developers have discussed connecting future developments with the urban trail system. “We would also like to use local artists to improve on items like fire rings, grills and lantern hangers in the immediate future, and would like to incorporate local artisans into other plans”
Next workshop will be Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 6 p.m., at Harmon Park, and the next regular meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 6 p.m.