July 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 70

parks & recreation at work

of a growing Canada goose population
near the city's airports. "
Canada goose management options
for urban parks include banning feeding, oiling and addling eggs, hazing with
dogs and noisemakers, and modifying
habitat conditions. Federal approval from
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for control efforts is now available through an online system, but rules in each state vary,
according to Swift. A crucial component
of any management program is timing.
" Geese are extremely programmed
to come back to the same place where
they've nested in previous years, " Swift
explains. " Quite often they are pretty tenacious about coming back. You're much
more likely with any of these deterrents
to have success if you go after the geese
when they first show up at any time of
year....During the nesting season, they
become pretty defensive and hold their
ground as much as they can. " When nesting season is over, there's another window
of opportunity in late May or early June to
drive geese away before the summer molt.
After the molt begins, the geese cannot fly

and " you're going to have those birds there
for the next six weeks, " Swift says.
Molting season is when the most controversial method of goose control can
be employed-the roundup. During a
roundup, f lightless geese are herded
into net pens and captured. New York
City recently announced that any geese
captured in future roundups in the city
would be sent to food banks in Pennsylvania. Mark Rogers, a natural resources steward biologist with New York State
Parks, says that the state park system
employs roundups as a last resort.
" We do allow hunting in our parks-
some of the parks, not every one because
each is a little bit different-and we have
conducted roundups in the past. Those
are usually a last resort when the other
methods that we use to control Canada
geese fail to resolve the issues, " Rogers
says. " We try to do harassment, hazing,
and egg oiling first. "
Of the whole spectrum of measures
that can be used to discourage Canada geese, Swift says that hazing by border collies has proven to be particularly

effective (see sidebar). Mark Rogers says
he has seen substantial reductions in
geese waste in state parks in the Thousand Islands area along Lake Ontario
and the St. Lawrence River where a border collie contractor has been working.
A facility like a golf course could have
a resident dog, or hire a private professional goose control service, Swift says.
However, geese driven away from one
site often just become a nuisance at another site nearby.
" You have to consider it on a case-bycase basis, " Swift says. " The best strategy
is a combination of techniques including
population control and other techniques. "
Prospect Park formed a Wildlife Management Advisory Committee that included both wildlife management and
animal welfare professionals, along with
community representatives, to make recommendations on Canada goose management. The park has banned feeding,
and uses both signs and volunteers to explain the policy and the reasons behind it.
" Once we explain the reasons for our nofeed policy, people generally understand

" It

was a heck of a mess, "
says Paul Stell, natural resources manager with the Park and Recreation District in Bend, Oregon. At least
500 to 600 Canada geese came to the
seven riverfront parks in Bend to molt
each year. These were some of the favorite and busiest parks in the city.
The Bend park district removed 109
geese in a roundup last year, which were
donated to local food banks. " It was a
little contentious but I think that helped
a lot-they felt better about it, " Stell
recalls.
Hoping to avoid further roundups,
the park district worked with the nonprofit organization GeesePeace to develop management strategies. More
than 190 eggs were oiled over three
years and 56 juveniles were transferred
to a wildlife refuge. In addition, the city
employed paintball guns, noisemakers,

68 Parks & Recreation

J U LY 2 0 1 1

www.NRPA .ORG

and eagle effigies to drive away geese.
A staff member with a border collie began hazing the geese and the city also
hired a professional handler with two
more dogs. Although effective, the dog
hazing program still wasn't comprehensive enough to cover the two miles of
riverfront parks.
That's when Stell issued a call for
help from canine volunteers (and their
owners). About 40 people responded,
with 20 dogs making it through the rigorous screening process by a professional dog trainer. The dogs needed to
enthusiastically chase but not actually
catch or attack the geese, plus they had
to be reliable and safe for off-leash work
where the public and non-working dogs
might also be present.
" That really made a difference this
year-I'm real pleased at this point, " Stell
says. " We still have a couple hundred

Prospect Park Alliance

Wanted: Four-legged Volunteers

July 2011 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2011 - Parks & Recreation