Lyme disease, hiking guides, women's success, NUMC, football concussion

To curb Lyme risk, fight invasive flora

Newsday’s continued coverage of the increasing tick population rightly sounds the alarm about the threat of Lyme disease “Danger of ticks on rise,” News, Sept. 2]. But when it comes to mitigating this risk, focusing primarily on deer ignores what is happening beneath the surface.

Deer provide adult ticks with opportunities to feed, mate, and move through the landscape. But deer do not infect ticks with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

White-footed mice are a primary reservoir for Borrelia burgdorferi. When ticks feed on infected mice, they acquire the bacteria and can later transmit them to people.

That makes habitat an important part of the disease equation.

Dense stands of invasive vegetation create refuges for mice while making it harder for natural predators to reach them. At the same time, invasive plants escaping from suburban yards continually spread into forests, creating disturbed, fragmented edge habitat that can favor both mice and deer.

Reducing deer may be one component of a broader strategy, but it cannot be the entire solution.

Municipalities and homeowners should remove invasive vegetation and restore native plant communities. If we want fewer infected ticks, we need to address the ecological conditions that sustain them.

— Devon Giordano, Massapequa

The writer is executive director of the Long Island Conservation Alliance.

Add accessibility info to hike guides

The article “LI strolls to remember” [exploreLI, Sept. 8] offered great descriptions of some of the wonderful venues for walks on Long Island.

“Long Island offers a variety of nature trails, resplendent with fall color, wildlife and other natural wonders for those who want to get out and take a hike,” it said, and went on to describe trails for wildlife encounters, panoramic water views, kid-friendly trails, and off-the-beaten-path larks.

People with mobility limitations or other challenges might like to “get out and take a hike” as well, but nowhere in the article was there accessibility information for them.

People with disabilities deserve to know what is accessible when they want to take in our Island’s natural wonders, so in the future, please provide accessibility information for all listed venues.

— Roberta Rosenberg, East Northport

The writer is director of Destination Accessible US.

Women’s success shows fruit of past

I am of the same vintage as the late Gloria Steinem. I remember the struggles of the “women’s movement” and the glacial progression of equal rights. I couldn’t get a credit card in my own name, and there certainly wasn’t equal pay for equal jobs.

I know she would have been glad to see the Sept. 8 LI People on the Move listing, which showed all six “movers” to be women [LI Business]. They appear to be too young to remember the “movement” but are certainly old enough to have benefited from it. Hooray for us.

— Susan Hennings-Lowe, Huntington

Trimming NUMC staff would ease deficit

Regarding fixing the Nassau University Medical Center finances, the president of the Civil Service Employees Association union, which represents approximately 3,500 employees at the facility, dismisses the possibility that some of that staff might be reduced in order to cut costs and improve the hospital’s finances [“5 ideas to help NUMC fix its finances,” News, Sept. 6].

Indeed, of all the suggestions to improve NUMC’s fiscal status, there was nary a mention of reducing expenses via the costliest budget line item: a reduction in unnecessary and duplicative staffing positions — just like what our federal budget deficit needs.

— Peter Dooley, Massapequa

Do concussion risks weigh on HS football?

The article about the decline in the number of boys playing high school football had a glaring omission in the reasons: chronic traumatic encephalopathy [“HS football numbers in sharp decline,” High School Sports, Sept. 4].

The football coaches interviewed seemed unwilling to admit the dangers of the sport, even though a recent study estimated that at least 1 in 4 former NFL players suffers from CTE.

My wife and I plan to steer our boys to other sports that carry less risk to their long-term health.

— Chris Ottersen, Kings Park