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| THE COLONY NEWS | DECEMBER 2023 | 5 Turf reseeding began Nov. 20. e HOA landscape contractor, Environmental Concepts Landscape Management, Inc., (ECM) will continue the reseeding following the same path as the maintenance work schedule. e map below illustrates the maintenance work schedule within e Colony. One of the challenges of the success of the reseeding program has been the high population of cottontail rabbits in e Colony. e cottontails are very destructive to gardens and grasses, particularly where wild or uncultivated lands border residential zones, parks, greenbelts, or other landscaped places. ey eat vegetation close to the ground, thus preventing the reseeding grass from taking hold in that area. e breeding season for cottontails typically begins in December and ends in June. e average litter size is usually three to four young, and each cottontail can have up to six litters per year. ey frequent open areas at night and dense cover during the day. e California Department of Fish and Wildlife agency manages the state's diverse fish, wildlife and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend. Under the California Fish and Game Code, property owners are allowed to control rabbits in a legal manner if the rabbits are damaging landscaping, gardens or crops. e Landscape Department and Landscape Advisory Committee (LAC) conducted an exhaustive effort to evaluate the following solutions to control the cottontail rabbits within e Colony to ensure a successful reseeding program. • Bait poisons and repellants – this method was found to be ineffective, and thereby infeasible, in an area as large as e Colony. It is labor-intensive and would also include a potential risk to family pets and other non-invasive animals, at a significant cost to the HOA annually. • Owl boxes – e Colony includes a healthy population of owls, who are predators of the cottontail. However, relying on owl boxes alone will not reduce the cottontail population to the level that would be considered effective to ensure a successful reseeding program. • Caging aer reseeding – e LAC looked at potentially caging around specific areas that had been reseeded to prevent intrusion by the cottontails. is option was determined to not be feasible as the cost of materials was high and the effort was labor-intensive. e overall cost of this option was too high as compared to the projected results. • Pest Management Control – is method of population reduction was included in the overall evaluation, and found to be the most feasible and cost effective for our situation. A licensed contractor proposed reducing the cottontail population with the use of pellet air rifles. e LAC recommended this option to the Board. At the October 2023 Board meeting, aer all options were reviewed and considered, a vote was taken to approve a contract with Animal Pest Management Services, Inc (APM) to reduce the number of rabbits in e Colony. e contract begins Dec. 1 and will be implemented from 12:30 to 4 am approximately once a week in December and twice a month through 2024. No APM employees will enter a resident's yard to perform this work. Turf Reseeding Schedule & Cottontail Rabbit Control From e Colony Management Team

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