United States Department of the Interior
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
National Capital Area
1100 Ohio Drive, SW.
Washington, D.C. 20242
JAN 31 1997
Thomas
P.O. Box 27217
Washington, D.C. 20038
Dear Thomas:
Thank you for your letter concerning the rat population in
Lafayette Park.
The life cycle of rats peaks twice annually in the spring and fall.
This increased population is a normal seasonal variation.
Construction activities can displace rats and force them to seek
additional food and habitat resources (including park trash
containers) Numerous park visitors feeding squirrels and pigeons
indirectly provide food for rats. There are also several food
sources outside the park (mobile street vending units and
restaurant /hotel dumpsters) that provide food for rodent
populations living in the park as well as food remnants left in the
park.
President's park has an active rodent control program. There are
5 Certified Pesticide Applicators who routinely monitor rodent
populations and apply rodenticides. In addition, we have attempted
to "ratproof" trash containers. This requires retrofitting every
container with a metal disk in the bottom and usually with a lid at
the top to eliminate foraging by rats. Retrofitting trash
receptacles with domes or lids has not been possible in some areas
of President 's Park due to security concerns. In addition,
throughout the park overgrown vegetation is being removed and
replaced with smaller plants to reduce rat harborage in these
areas.
Although the habitat for rats in President's Park can be reduced
dramatically through our efforts, rats are still abundant in the
surrounding neighborhoods and will continue to reinvade the park in
search of food and shelter. Our goal, therefore, can only be to
keep rat populations at levels providing for public health and
safety.