DEC Invites Property Owners to Help Control Goose Populations

• by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

ALBANY, NY (02/28/2008)(readMedia)-- New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today released information to help property owners prevent or reduce problems with Canada geese, which are becoming more widespread every year. New York's local-nesting or "resident" Canada goose population has grown to more than 200,000 birds statewide, and is expected to continue growing if individual property owners, local governments, homeowner's associations, waterfowl hunters and others do not take action to help slow population growth.

As a result of this increasing population, DEC has already enacted a first-time late winter goose hunting season that will be open in southern areas of the state from March 1-10 and with a 5-bird daily limit. The season is open only in New York's South Goose Hunting Area, which includes all or portions of Niagara, Erie, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Wyoming, Allegany, Livingston, Steuben, Schuyler, Chemung, Tompkins, Tioga, Cortland, Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Schoharie, Albany, Greene, Sullivan, Ulster, Orange, Rockland, Putnam and Westchester Counties. Very small areas of Otsego and Dutchess are included also. Hunting at this time of year should help reduce nesting populations in this area of the state. Other areas will not be open for hunting in March to protect local flocks of migratory geese that breed in northern Canada. Regulations for the March 1-10 season are the same as during other regular goose hunting seasons. For more information about goose hunting regulations, including a detailed description of the South Goose Hunting Area, go to the DEC website: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28496.html .

In addition to hunting, landowners also have other options available to them to help reduce resident goose populations. To prevent successful goose nesting, "egg-addling" can be conducted in areas across the state Egg-addling includes various techniques of treating goose nests or eggs so they will not hatch, including coating the eggs with corn oil or puncturing the eggs with a small skewer. These techniques prevent further development of the embryo without causing the adult birds to immediately abandon the nest. The geese will eventually abandon the nest when it is too late to re-nest (usually by mid-May), so there should be fewer goslings produced and the adult birds may leave the area for the remainder of spring and summer.

Property owners, local officials, homeowner's associations and others may addle eggs so long as they have authorization from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and DEC. Information and authorization for Canada goose nest and egg control work can be obtained immediately by registering on-line at the USFWS website https://epermits.fws.gov/eRCGR/geSI.aspx .

In many cases, landowners who have problems with geese may not have the birds nesting on their own property. "In those situations, the Department encourages local landowners, local officials, and others in a community to cooperate or work together to address the problem of overabundant Canada geese," Commissioner Grannis said. DEC sponsored several regional workshops this winter to inform people with goose problems what they can do to alleviate their problems. One key is to determine where the problem birds may be coming from, and reaching out to property owners where geese nest to get their permission to locate nests and addle eggs.

Another option that DEC allows is the use of dogs to chase, but not harm Canada geese. No special permit is required, but dogs should not be allowed to chase geese that have goslings, or that are unable to fly during their summer molting period (generally mid-June to mid-July). That is a time when geese shed their worn-out wing feathers and grow new ones for another year. A good time to use dogs to chase geese from an area is in late May or early June (as long as goslings are not present), so geese will be forced to molt in some other location. Geese may not leave an area quickly, so persistent effort to chase them away will likely be needed. A number of private professional service providers, often using border collies, are available in some areas of the state.

Other options are available to alleviate problems caused by resident Canada geese during the spring and summer months. For agricultural producers, airports, swimming beaches and water supplies, USFWS and DEC allow the take of up to 25 adult or juvenile Canada geese (in addition to nests and eggs) without a special permit, under what are referred to as "depredation orders" or "control orders." These are special provisions established in 2007 because of the growing problems with Canada geese across the country. Special permits from USFWS and DEC are required to take larger numbers of geese or to take geese to alleviate problems not covered by one of these categories. Although take of geese can be controversial, it can be a cost-effective part of a goose control program that includes a variety of techniques. Simply chasing geese away is not easy, and may simply move geese from one problem area to another.

For more information about goose control techniques and permit requirements in New York, go to DEC's website http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7003.html#3 .

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