The skies over Midwestern states will be dotted white
this fall by snow geese moving south for the winter. But many
biologists have concluded that the birds are too prolific for their
own good.
The goose population has skyrocketed
over the past 30 years, up from 750,000 in 1969 to almost 3 million
today. As they migrate from Northern Canada to Mexico, the birds
have been eating out their habitat and jeopardizing their future.
A study by the Arctic Goose Habitat Working
Group, a volunteer committee of biologists and representatives from
conservation groups, found the snow goose population growing at 5
percent a year. The damage to the ecosystem in Canada mirrors that
growth. The birds have picked clean the fragile breeding grounds at
Canada’s La Perouse Bay, a small inlet on Hudson Bay. If this keeps
up, says North Dakota Game and Fish Department biologist Mike
Johnson, “the population will likely crash sometime in the future.”
Because the breeding grounds of snow geese won’t
be able to support the growing numbers, the working group
recommends cutting the bird population in half. The most effective
method, they say, is hunting. Bruce Batt, a member of the working
group and a chief biologist with Ducks Unlimited, says, “We adopted
a principle that birds must be respected. We don’t want them
destroyed or wasted and left in landfills.”
The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which sets hunting regulations,
agreed, increasing bag limits to 10 snow geese per person, per day,
up from five. The group is also proposing to expand the current
107-day hunting season to 365 days. The working group also suggests
other changes: legalizing electronic bird-caller devices and
allowing hunting in or around federal and state refuges. The group
believes the birds’ numbers can be reduced to sustainable levels
within seven to 10 years.
For information,
contact Bruce Batt at Ducks Unlimited, 901/758-3786, or biologist
Mike Johnson at 701/758-3786. You can also find information on the
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center’s Web site:
www.npsc.nbs.gov/resource/othrdata/snowprob/snowprob.htm.
*Sara
Phillips
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Serious trouble for snow geese.
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