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A conversation with Virginia Barbatti about ticks and deer.
On the Vineyard, we live close to the land. We walk the trails, and our children and dogs run through the tall summer grasses. We measure the seasons by weather, by what is growing and blooming, and now, increasingly, by what is biting.
Along with Nantucket, we have the highest rate of tick-borne illness in Massachusetts. Though ticks have long been part of Island life, something has shifted. The increased prevalence of the lone star tick and the spread of alpha-gal syndrome have altered daily habits, dinner tables, and the way many of us approach our own backyards. What once felt like a manageable nuisance now feels like a public health crisis.
When I sat down with Virginia Barbatti, the Executive Director of Tick Free MV, I was impressed by her clarity, her reliance on data, and her deep commitment to community process. This is a story not about panic, but about stewardship of land and wildlife, and local leadership.
A broad coalition of year-round and seasonal Islanders founded Tick Free MV last year with the goal of using scientific research and local expertise to address our tick problem. The question before us is not whether we care about white-tailed deer and open space — we do. The question is how we restore balance in a way that protects both the ecosystem and all the residents and visitors who love this Island.
What follows is my conversation with Virginia about her background, her new job, public health, deer density, and what it means to take responsibility for the place we love. As with so many issues on a small island, addressing this one will require broad public involvement. Thankfully, the leadership has emerged.
Victoria: Let’s start at the beginning. What were you doing before you took this job? And why did you take this job?
Virginia: I was most recently the Development Director at Island Grown Initiative, which I did for a couple of years. I really, really loved working for IGI. It’s an incredible organization, as you know.
I had a corporate career for 15 years before moving to the Island full time in 2020. I’ve been a lifelong seasonal resident in Chilmark. I have a young family [she has three young children], and we came here temporarily during the pandemic and decided to stay after spending our first winter here. I had to figure out how to build a career for myself on Martha’s Vineyard.
Victoria: Where were you working before?
Virginia: I was at Wayfair before coming to the Island, and I’ve worked for multiple Fortune 500 companies including Stanley Black & Decker and Boston Beer Company. I’ve done a lot of strategy work, and I thought my career would remain in the corporate space. But when we moved here, it was a real reckoning. I wanted to do something locally and not just work remotely. I wanted to dig in here.
I joined the board of Chilmark Preschool, where my children were going. We were undertaking a large capital campaign to build a new preschool building. I became deeply engaged and realized I could apply my corporate skill set in ways that directly affected my family, my friends, and my community. That was the beginning of recognizing I wanted to build a career in the nonprofit sector.
When Tick Free MV started forming last year, it was in response to something every Islander was feeling — that we had reached a crisis point on the tick issue. Tick-borne disease has long been part of Island life. But the explosion of the lone star tick and the alpha-gal cases that followed have changed the tenor of life on the Island. When I learned about a group coming together to direct serious resources and energy toward solving this crisis, I felt called to the work.
Victoria: When exactly did this begin to come together?
Virginia: Conversations started last summer among seasonal and year-round residents. Martha’s Vineyard Medical hosted a Tick Summit that brought experts together and sparked real discussion around solutions.
Nathaniel Scott initially laid the groundwork as interim executive director in the fall. I was brought on in December [when Scott, who had worked for USAID, returned to international work] as the permanent executive director. We have two co-chairs of the board: Jeff Levy, CEO of Martha’s Vineyard Medical, and Megan Chernin, a seasonal resident active in philanthropy. Our treasurer is Gene Ludwig [a prominent businessman and former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency]. Other board members include [lawyer and Island native] Isabelle Lew, [child welfare advocate and philanthropist] Carol Biondi, [wildlife biologist] Dick Johnson, and [Chilmark police officer] Bret Stearns.
We also have senior advisors including [tick specialists Patrick Rodin-Reynolds and Sam Telford [epidemiologist] Lea Hamner, [longtime head of the Island boards of health] Maura Valley, and [communications strategist and longtime Chilmarker] Mary Breslauer.
It’s an extraordinary group of people.
Victoria: Are solutions coming into view?
Virginia: Yes. And there is a great deal of science available to guide us.
We believe an Island-wide strategy is necessary that includes tick reduction, public health coordination, and healthcare collaboration. We see a broad strategy that includes the hospital and other medical groups. To give people information about steps they can take to protect themselves, we need one consolidated view.
Tick Free MV’s mission is focused specifically on tick reduction in the natural environment. We’re addressing both the black-legged tick and the lone star tick. We must look at host populations — primarily the white-tailed deer — and we must also use secondary interventions that directly kill ticks. There is no one solution. We have to prioritize our initial focus areas.
This is movement-building work. We want to take deliberate, transparent steps — together.
According to Mass Wildlife, our state agency, the Vineyard and Nantucket have the highest deer densities in the state. The deer serve as the primary reproductive hosts for ticks. Mass Wildlife maintains that the right number of deer per square mile to be in ecological balance is eight to twelve. We have, according to Mass Wildlife, at least 55 per square mile. That's a staggering difference, and their estimate is a baseline. They think it could actually be significantly higher in parts of the Island that are not hunted. We could be looking at something like 100 per square mile in certain pockets. That's an untenable situation. There are multiple negative impacts of a deer density that high, including the ecological impacts from overbrowsing.
We’ve launched an aerial deer survey using thermal drone technology to provide accurate, transparent data to the community. We've hired an organization out of Connecticut called White Buffalo. They're in the middle of a multi-week aerial deer survey right now. [We want to know:] How many deer per square mile are we really working with, and where are they across the Island? What are the hot spots? We want to deliver that information to our community so that as people are thinking about possible interventions and where we want to take this, we have as much information as possible to inform those types of decisions.
We see this as movement-building work. This is a community-wide issue. We are committed to being transparent, deliberate, and collaborative. We want to hear from people and move forward together. We're very committed to seeing it through, but with the input of our community. I'm trying to figure out ways to make sure that comes through as we communicate that we want to hear from people.
Victoria: Is sterilization an option? How else do you address the overpopulation?
Virginia: Sterilization is not viable given the island’s high deer density and open landscape. Our first focus is restoring ecological balance.
We are also engaging in legislative and regulatory discussions about hunting access, season extensions, and related measures like Sunday hunting and the use of crossbows. We've been sharing information in testimony at the state level that affects hunting access. We've been speaking largely about deer, but changes could also extend to turkey hunting, for example.
The state legislature has long considered changing the Commonwealth’s hunting access laws [such as the centuries-old “blue law” that bans hunting on Sundays] but they seem to actually be getting traction right now from a whole series of sessions with the general public to gather input on these potential changes.
Victoria: Are there upsides to increased hunting?
Virginia: Another important focus is venison processing capacity. We want to ensure that increased harvest translates into protein for our community.
As we envision what a processing facility could look like, we're considering other wild game that could be processed in a space that we create. The venison processing facility opened on Nantucket is tied in with a really awesome state program called Hunters Share the Harvest, where deer are donated and processed, and that venison is then distributed through the Food Equity Network on Nantucket.
We’ve reached a crisis point on the tick issue. There isn’t one solution — it’s going to take coordinated, community-wide action.
We have a similar program here. IGI has long been participating in [equitable food distribution], and now the MV Hunt Club is a part of that as well. We're looking to create a facility that allows us to expand on the Hunters Share the Harvest program, so that as we increase the take of deer on our Island over time, there's an opportunity for that to turn into a protein source for the community. Some of that meat will also go to the tribe in Aquinnah. So we're working on making sure that there are multiple benefits to our community as we drive forward.
Victoria : What can homeowners do now?
Virginia: Individual vigilance remains essential. Tick reduction at scale will take time. In the meantime, people should use resources from the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program (see below) and local Boards of Health. Yard surveys are available.
We are also exploring pollinator-safe management strategies and ways to expand public education. But for now, individual vigilance is critical.
Victoria: Has another community solved this problem?
Virginia: Not fully. There are examples of communities addressing aspects of the problem successfully, but our Island conditions are unique. We are out front on some of this work.
What You Can Do
Advice from Patrick Roden-Reynolds, head of Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program, and Lea Hamner, epidemiologist with Tick Free MV.
How to protect yourself
Permethrin-treated clothing is the best defense against ticks. Hamner notes its 30-year safety record and widespread expert recommendations. The chemical bonds to fabric; ticks that land on it are disabled or killed before they can bite. If you can’t find it locally, check insectshield.com.
Treated pants, socks, and hiking gear create a strong first layer of protection. Factory-treated clothing can last through dozens of washes; DIY sprays generally remain effective for six washes. When you go out with exposed skin, Patrick Roden-Reynolds suggests DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, IR3535, or 2-Undecanone.
What to look for — and what to do if you get a tick bite
Remove ticks promptly. Quick removal reduces the risk of disease. Engorged (swollen) ticks may have been attached longer and more likely to transmit Lyme or other tick-borne diseases. Preventive doxycycline can reduce the risk of Lyme disease if taken within 72 hours. Watch for fever, chills, fatigue, body aches, sweats, or the bullseye rash. Seek medical advice if symptoms appear.
Alpha-gal syndrome vs. tick-borne illness
Alpha-gal syndrome is an allergy, not an infection, triggered by bites from lone star ticks and their larvae, the latter of which are tiny and difficult to see. Alpha-gal can cause reactions to mammal products — beef, pork, venison, lamb, and sometimes dairy. Symptoms include hives, digestive distress, and anaphylactic shock after eating red meat. Repeated bites increase risk; avoiding further tick bites improves chances of recovery.
Resources
- Patrick Roden-Reynolds of the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program will evaluate your property for ticks. Contact [email protected].
- Hunters Share the Harvest
- MV Agricultural Society’s Deer Management Program
Got questions, or ideas? Write [email protected].
