The Anchorage Canada goose population has risen from a few hundred in the mid 1970s to more than 4,000 in 1997. The main cause of this increase has been changes in habitat due to increased urban development. Geese prefer the short grass found in lawns and adjacent open water areas in natural and artificial ponds and lakes. The increasing Canada goose population has caused safety, economic, and nuisance problems as well as health risks for geese and humans.
Collection of goose eggs was the method most acceptable to the public as a means of reducing the growth of the Anchorage goose population based on comments received on the draft "Environmental Assessment: Canada Goose Population Management in Anchorage, Alaska" last year.
Although collecting eggs alone will not lower the present goose population, it will slow population growth. In addition, goslings, accompanied by a few adult geese, will be relocated out of the city this summer before they learn to fly. The relocated goslings are expected to return in the following years to the area where they learned to fly, thus further reducing the growth of the Anchorage Canada goose population by non lethal means. Also, researchers at Alaska Pacific University are working with the Municipality, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Northern Native Seeds, Inc. to find landscaping plants that are unpalatable to geese.
The collection of goose eggs will be done on land owned by the Municipality of Anchorage, and possibly on private land. Landowners will require permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The egging will be done in organized egg searches by volunteers trained and supervised by the Municipality, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, USDA Wildlife Services, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists. Anyone who would like to volunteer should call Marlene Schroeder of the Southcentral Foundation at 265-4224. Each person collecting eggs will need a copy of the permit. The eggs collected will be donated to the Southcentral Foundations Elders Program for consumption. Collected eggs must be donated to a charitable organization and cannot be used for personal consumption.
Egg collection will be in selected areas and on only one to two occasions to minimize impacts on other nesting birds. Egg collectors will leave one egg in each nest. Geese will be allowed to incubate and hatch the one viable egg left in each nest because they then will be less likely to renest. Lea Hix, a graduate student at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, will study the effects of egg collecting on the productivity of geese. Her work will help evaluate the success of the program, and will provide information that will make predictions of future population growth more accurate.
FWS
