I guess what I'm saying is, is there seems to be a connection there.

There are likely connections.

The scientific literature on the impact of controlled burning on tick populations, both in the Mid-Atlantic region and also in various parts of the Midwest where we're dealing with different species of tick, mostly lone star tick as opposed to the blacklegged tick, which is the predominant species in the Northeast, including the Mid-Atlantic.

It's a confusing literature.

Typically you do see an initial decline in tick numbers following burns.

In the same year of the burn and even a few years beyond the controlled fires.

You often then see a proliferation of ticks so that the populations are more abundant a few years after a burn than they were before the burn.

... a five-year study you conducted with Dr. Felicia Keesing of Bard University to test the effectiveness of two types of tick reduction landscape treatments.