| Geese Ain't the Problem
August 25, 2003 By Jim Beers "There you go again." Ronald Reagan in his debate with then-President Carter. I was reminded of the above when I read the following news article (actually a government press release reworded as news). Heres are the facts; you decide. The last paragraph quotes a government scientist [expounding] about how hunters and rich people (two dependable bugaboos) are responsible for the goose problem. He further infers (based on what?) that geese are "not native to New Jersey." OOOHHH ... hunters and rich people brought an invasive, non-native, (exotic?), etc., species to New Jersey! Hogwash. No one can say for sure that there weren't some Canada geese nesting in New Jersey in 1776 or 1492 or whenever the magic "native" date is set, of late. The have always (at least as far back as the "invasion" of Asians 10,000 years ago) wintered in and migrated through New Jersey marshes. To call them "non-native" is a lie calculated to engender mindless public attention on nonsense, instead of on the real culprits. Sure hunters used some for live decoys until around WWI, and sure, some rich folks pinioned some for ornaments on their ponds -- but none of that ever caused a problem. The problem came in the 1970s and 1980s when the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) -- who exert primary jurisdiction over Canada Geese per the 1917 Migratory Bird Treaty -- began to appeal to non-hunters and anti-hunters. FWS encouraged (under their permits) every Country Club, City Park, and urban pond owner to put a few pairs out for the general public's enjoyment. For years the FWS even moved excess birds to other ponds and states as the population grew. Like the collie dogs employed today in shuffling a growing goose problem, the public remained blissfully unaware -- while the problem grew. The environmental and animal rights groups all chirped about how killing wasn't necessary -- and all the soccer moms and third grade classes gasped whenever a dead goose was suggested as the solution. So now the problem is the size of bootlegging in 1925. So the FWS biologist lays it on old, dead, white guys and allows as how the geese are "non-native." This is done as FWS does a double pirouette and exits stage right (leaving the states onstage, 'holding the bag'). The FWS needs a purge, and these environmental and animal rights groups need to start being told to shut up and sit down. The days of environmental/animal rights extremist fairy tales need to stop -- right now. The inspiration for Jim's article: Geese management could fall to state - DEP upset funding is not attached to plan (Quoth the Audubon society mouthpiece, "The geese are indicators of poor land management practices. They are attracted to the large corporate lawns, which are manicured wastelands. We need to stop mowing and stop the deforestation." Hogwash!) August 22, 2003 By Brian T. Murray Star-Ledger Staff http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/ To submit a Letter to the Editor: eletters@starledger.com Resident Canada geese, those overpopulating fowl that refuse to migrate out of New Jersey, may come under the control of state government by spring, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced yesterday. The federal wildlife authority plans to relinquish its historical management of the geese to allow state environmental officials to control efforts to reduce the geese population. Currently, local governments must go through a cumbersome federal permit process to reduce geese populations, such as the goose-gassing effort Union County undertook last month to clear its parks of the birds. "We're trying to streamline this and put the local agencies closer to the problem in control," said Paul Schmidt, assistant director of migratory birds and state programs for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. The deregulation proposal has been in the works for more than a year, said Schmidt, kicking off a 60-day public comment period yesterday that allows anyone interested in or opposed to the plan to submit comments to the federal agency. An environmental impact statement ultimately will be drafted by the Fish and Wildlife Service before the end of the year and, if adopted, the geese deregulation plan could be put in place by spring, said Schmidt. "We would welcome the authority to manage our resident Canada geese populations, but only if the federal government provides funding for us to take over the program," said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Jack Kaskey. No such funding is attached to the plan, and that upsets state officials. Officials contend that along with state regulation of the geese, the federal authorities also are passing on the costly bureaucratic responsibilities of dealing with hundreds of annual permit applications. The permits are sought by sportsmen who want to hunt the geese, farmers trying to kill them to protect crops, owners of large corporate tracts who want to eliminate flocks of geese that are fouling their properties and local governments trying to clear their parks of the birds. Environmental groups also have expressed mixed feelings about the plan. New Jersey Audubon, for example, contends that better land management practices will have more long-term effects on controlling the geese population than allowing states to employ short-term programs to kill the geese. "The geese are indicators of poor land management practices. They are attracted to the large corporate lawns, which are manicured wastelands. We need to stop mowing and stop the deforestation," said Eric Stiles, vice chairman of conservation for New Jersey Audubon. Allowing grasslands and trees to replace lawns will eliminate the breeding habitat that attracts the resident geese, and simultaneously create habitat that helps rarer birds to flourish. New Jersey has an estimated 90,000 resident Canada geese, which are a subspecies of the migrating Canada geese that visit New Jersey each winter when they fly south from their native land. The resident geese are distinct in that they are slightly larger and do not migrate. There are an estimated 3.5 million resident Canada geese in the lower 48 states, and all of those states have problems with their mounting populations. Primarily, there are health and environmental problems posed by their constant production of feces. The geese are not native to New Jersey and most areas where they have become a problem. They were introduced into the state in the early 1900s by people who wanted to adorn their local ponds with the creatures and hunters who used them as live decoys for migratory fowl and stocked them to add to the available game in New Jersey, said Ron Kokel, a wildlife biologist with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/firstglance/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1061602209316650.xml |