"We will collect eggs on only one or two occasions to minimize impacts on other nesting birds, and egg collectors will leave one egg in each nest to discourage geese from abandoning their nest and starting a new one," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Karen Laing.
The Anchorage Canada goose population has risen from a few hundred in the mid-1970s to a peak of 4,600 in 1998. This increase was due to habitat change caused by urban development favoring lawns and artificial lakes. Geese prefer to eat short grass found in lawns. When raising young in July, they also like to be close to open water of ponds and lakes, since they lose their flight feathers and cannot fly during this time. The increasing Canada goose population presents safety, economic and nuisance problems as well as health risks to geese and humans. Local airports currently spend over $400,000 each year to keep runways clear of geese.
"Although collecting eggs alone will not lower the present goose population in the short term, it will slow population growth," Laing said. "In addition, biologists plan to move goslings out of the city before they learn to fly. We expect that relocated goslings will return in the following years to the area where they learned to fly, thus further reducing the growth of the Anchorage Canada goose population."
More important for reducing the goose population long term will be changes in local human habits. "We encourage agencies such as the Municipality and the Alaska Department of Transportation, as well as individual homeowners, to landscape using plants other than lawns. Native plants are available that encourage other wildlife, and do not require the fertilizers, pesticides and upkeep of lawns," Laing said. Researchers at Alaska Pacific University are working with the Municipality, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Northern Native Seeds, Inc., to find new landscaping alternatives that are unpalatable to geese.
Participants in the egg collecting program will collect eggs on land owned by the Municipality of Anchorage, and on private land where landowners have given their permission for the collections. Private landowners willing to allow egg collection should contact Jerry Walton at the Municipality at 343-4485.
Anyone who would like to volunteer to collect eggs should call Marlene Schroeder of the Southcentral Foundation at 338-4370 or 338-4226. Egging will be done in organized searches by volunteers trained and supervised by the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, USDA Wildlife Services and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists. To participate, all volunteers will need copies of the Federal and State permits with their names on them.
"As we did in previous years, we will donate all eggs to the Elders Program of the Southcentral Foundation," Laing said. Federal law requires that eggs be donated to a charitable organization. Eggs cannot be used for personal consumption by volunteers.
For more information on Anchorage geese, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website at www.r7.fws/mbm/ancgeese/.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and wildlife management assistance offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state wildlife agencies.
You can subscribe to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska region listserver, to have our press releases sent to your e-mail address automatically by sending an e-mail message to: listserver@www.fws.gov">. Please indicate that you would like to subscribe to FWS-Alaska news and give your name in the body of the message.
