Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife experts, Matt Blankenship, Wildlife Conflict Specialist, and Shelly Ament, Wildlife Biologist, offer an educational presentation on deer and conflicts associated with deer during their Zoom lecture, Thursday November 11, 2021, from noon to 1:00 pm.

Blankenship will provide information on mitigating damage caused by deer to gardens, landscaping, and ornamental plants in urban and rural areas. He will discuss options from fencing, repellents and scare devices Clallam County residents can use to efficiently and cost effectively manage deer damage to their gardens and the landscaping around their homes.

Ament plans to cover general biology for deer and will mention some deer diseases that the public can watch for. She will inform attendees about a deer study which is ongoing in a community in Sequim.

Matt Blankenship has several years of experience with WDFW working with agriculture producers and homeowners throughout the Olympic Peninsula and South Sound on mitigating conflicts associated with wildlife. He is one of two conflict specialists working in in WDFW’s South Sound/Olympic Peninsula (Region 6). Blankenship covers seven counties — Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, Pierce, Thurston, and part of Lewis County. About 1.7 million people live in region six, and Matt’s job is to give them tools and information to help minimize conflicts with wildlife.

Shelly Ament is District 16’s Assistant Wildlife Biologist which covers Clallam and western Jefferson counties. She graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Biology and worked 12 years as a seasonal ranger for the National Park Service. Ament ventured to Washington in 1991 to serve as an Olympic National Park Coastal Wilderness Ranger. She moved to her current position in 1993. Ament has been responsible for the protection and management of bald eagles, the monitoring and management of diversity (non-game) and game wildlife species, monitoring threatened and endangered species, wildlife diversity, biodiversity conservation, habitat improvement projects, outreach/education, and assisting injured /sick wildlife. Presently, she works with elk, deer, waterfowl, sea otters, butterflies, bats, bumble bees, and other wildlife species.  Shelly received notoriety for developing the elk crossing project in Sequim that has significantly decreased the number of elk/vehicle collisions along Highway 101 and recently was instrumental in working with the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society and Clallam County PUD on the Swan Safe Project to bury power lines at Kirner Pond to protect wintering trumpeter swans.

The “Green Thumbs Garden Tips” education series, sponsored by the WSU Clallam County Master Gardeners, is held on the second and fourth Thursday each month through October. In November, December, and January, one lecture is offered. Scheduled presentations are subject to change. Visit the WSU Extension Clallam County website calendar for the latest information on upcoming presentations. For questions, call 360-565-2679

Find a direct link to the Zoom presentation here.

Or you can join the meeting by calling 253-215-8782, Meeting ID: 916 2688 9983, Passcode: 101869.

Green Thumb Education Series Presentations are held from 12 to 1 pm on the second and fourth Thursdays of most months. Talks are currently only being offered by online streaming, due to current social distancing concerns with COVID-19. Please see instructions for accessing the live stream. Presentations and associated printed materials will be archived on the local articles and archived presentations portion of our website. These events are free, but donations to help support the WSU Clallam County Extension Master Gardener program are appreciated.