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MEETINGS TO DISCUSS MANAGEMENT OF OVERABUNDANT LIGHT GEESE
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has scheduled a series of public
meetings across the country to discuss a draft environmental impact
statement (EIS) that will establish a national management strategy for
controlling overabundant light goose populations. The meetings will be
held to gather public comments and to discuss the management options
evaluated in the EIS, as the Service seeks to halt ongoing destruction
of arctic breeding grounds caused by exploding light goose populations.
"Breeding grounds in the Canadian arctic used by dozens of migratory
bird species that winter in or migrate through the U.S. are in jeopardy,
degraded and stripped of vegetation by populations of light geese that
exceed the lands' ability to support them. I urge the public to comment
on the draft EIS as we develop a strategy to bring light goose
populations down to sustainable levels," said Tom Melius, Assistant
Director for Migratory Birds and State Programs.
The draft EIS evaluates a range of alternatives in relation to their
ability to reduce and stabilize light goose (greater and lesser snow and
Ross' goose) populations and prevent further degradation of habitats
important to those geese and other migratory birds. On October 12, the
Service published a notice in the Federal Register that provides details
of the meetings and also published a proposed rule that, if approved,
would implement the preferred action alternative identified in the draft
EIS.
The Service's proposed alternative seeks to manage light goose
populations by increasing the harvest of light geese and modifying
current habitat management programs. This increased harvest would be
achieved by modifying existing hunting season regulations to permit the
use of unplugged shotguns and electronic calls during light goose
seasons after all other migratory bird seasons have closed, and by
creating a new regulation to allow harvest outside of normal hunting
seasons.
The proposed alternative is similar to provisions that were implemented
by legislation in 1999 and that remain in effect pending completion of
the EIS. The proposed alternative would also allow states in the
Atlantic Flyway to implement conservation measures to control the
rapidly expanding population of greater snow geese. Other alternatives
range from taking no additional action to the direct removal of large
numbers of light geese on
the birds' breeding grounds in the arctic, using wildlife agency
personnel or their agents.
Increasing agricultural and refuge development along waterfowl flyways
has improved the food supply available to light geese during their
yearly migrations. As a result, population growth rates have exploded.
The annual winter population index of mid-continent light geese has
tripled in the past 30 years, and the total number of birds on known
breeding colonies in the central and eastern Arctic likely approaches
5.8 million birds in spring. The fragile tundra and salt marsh habitat
in the vicinity of light goose breeding colonies cannot support
populations of that size.
Over the past decade, researchers have documented increasing habitat
loss and degradation on thousands of acres of salt marshes and
freshwater wetlands in the Canadian arctic, especially in the Hudson Bay
Lowlands. Congregating in large numbers, light geese dig into the soil,
consuming the roots of plants before they have sprouted. Grazing of
aboveground portions
of plants by geese further removes vegetative cover. Plant communities
are increasingly unable to rebound from this intense grazing, grubbing
and shoot-pulling, particularly given the short growing season in the
Arctic.
Removal of plant cover also results in an increase in evaporation rates,
bringing additional salts to the surface and increasing the salinity of
the soil. This increased salinity reduces and eventually eliminates the
ability of salt marsh plants to grow in the soil, resulting in
desertification, erosion and permanent loss of habitat.
In addition to the problems caused by lesser snow and Ross' goose
populations, impacts are now being recorded from greater snow geese. The
number of greater snow geese increased from 25,400 birds in 1965 to more
than 837,000 birds in 2001. The rapidly expanding population has caused
degradation of natural marsh habitats along migration areas in the St.
Lawrence River valley. Farmers have also suffered extensive crop damage
by geese in surrounding areas.
Meetings will be held in the following cities:
Washington, DC. - November 13, 9:00 a.m., Auditorium, Main
Interior Building, 1849 C Street NW
Dover, DE - November 13, 7:00 p.m., Richardson and Robbins
Auditorium, Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental
Control, 89 Kings
Highway
Bismarck, ND - November 27, 7:00 p.m., Auditorium, North Dakota
Game and Fish Department, 100 N. Bismarck Expressway
Bloomington, MN - November 28, 7:00 p.m., Visitors Center
Auditorium, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, 3815 E. 80th
Street Egg Harbor Township, NJ - November 29, 7:00 p.m., Clarion
Hotel and Convention Center, 6821 Black Horse Pike
Blue Springs, MO - December 5, 7:00 p.m., Burr Oak Woods Nature
Center, 1401 Northwest Park Road
Rosenberg, TX - December 12, 7:30 p.m., Education Center, Texas
Agriculture Extension Service, 1402 Band Road
Baton Rouge, LA - December 13, 7:00 p.m., Louisiana Room, 1st
Floor, Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, 2000 Quail Drive
The Service will accept comments on the draft EIS in these meetings
and in writing through December 14. The draft EIS is available on
the internet at http://migratorybirds.fws.gov. To obtain a hard copy of
the EIS, write to the Chief, Division of Migratory Bird Management, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, ms 634 ARLSQ,
1849 C St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20240. Comments may be sent to the
above address or via email to white_goose_eis@fws.gov. For further
information contact the Division of Migratory Bird Management, (703)
358-1714.
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