Post by Woody Williams on Aug 9, 2006 8:22:26 GMT -5
Canada geese's comeback backfires
Birds have become messy nuisances in S.C. suburbs
By SAMMY FRETWELL
sfretwell@thestate.com
www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/15215282.htm
From 1979 to 1987, the state wildlife department imported more than 7,000 Canada geese to replenish the goose population for hunters in South Carolina.
Today, the birds have multiplied so rapidly - 25,000 live in the state - that they've become messy nuisances in the suburbs. And, with neighborhood complaints rising, the federal government is killing some geese and loosening hunting rules for sportsmen.
South Carolina's goose troubles show how a well-intended wildlife program produced an unintended consequence - and more work for government agencies.
Hunters have more geese to stalk, but the birds are chewing up lawns, leaving droppings on sidewalks and scaring children who venture too close.
"It was a good move in the '70s, but the numbers of geese are so high now that we're at a point that we have to take out some of these geese," said Frank Oliver, a biologist with Wildlife Action Inc., a Mullins conservation group tracking the issue. "We have to do some type of management."
Greg Yarrow, a wildlife ecology professor at Clemson University, said programs to reintroduce animals often spark conflicts.
"Restocking efforts are almost always controversial," said Yarrow, who teaches a class in wildlife damage management. "You have to realize the missions of these state wildlife agencies. Their missions are to protect and conserve wildlife.
"But that mission goes counter to the interests of some of the public."
Elk, for instance, are upsetting some farmers and homeowners in parts of the Appalachian Mountains, Yarrow said.
In the 19th century, the animals were eliminated from the Appalachians by hunting and farming practices. They since have been reintroduced, but more people live in the mountains today, and they are complaining about elk walking through town or eating their plants, Yarrow said.
Gray wolves also have produced conflicts with ranchers in the West after the government attempted to restock areas, he said. And a federal plan to reintroduce red wolves in the Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston never got off the ground, in part because of concerns about landowner conflicts.
The S.C. Department of Natural Resources is well aware of nuisance goose complaints, but the agency defends the 1979-87 repopulation efforts.
For the most part, migrating geese had stopped flying to South Carolina in the winter when the state agency launched its program. More geese mean more opportunities for the state's 4,000 goose hunters, officials say.
"Our objective was to establish a resident Canada goose population" for hunting, said John Frampton, director of the state Department of Natural Resources. "If I had to do it all over again, would I do it? The answer is, 'Yes.' I've taken an awful lot of heat. But these are beautiful birds that can still be enjoyed by people, even those who don't hunt."
Nationally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to ease federal hunting restrictions on Canada geese.
In South Carolina, the Department of Natural Resources last month upped the bag limit for hunters from eight to 15 geese per day in September, while doubling the number of days open for goose hunting that month. Goose hunting is now allowed for the entire month of September. It also is allowed later in the fall and winter.
COOKED GEESE
The burgeoning goose population prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin "goose roundups" about three years ago in South Carolina, said Noel Myers, with the agency's wildlife services division in Columbia.
Myers said nuisance goose complaints are on the rise.
USDA officials would not say how many geese they have had killed this year, but Myers estimated the roundups capture an average of 50 geese per site.
This year, the Department of Agriculture has conducted about 20 roundups in which it captured geese and hauled them to a poultry slaughterhouse for processing.
That would mean about 1,000 geese have been killed this year in government roundups in South Carolina.
"Everybody wants one magic solution to the problem, but there is no magic solution," Myers said.
Oliver, a former Clemson University researcher, said Canada geese in one night can eat a garden full of beans. Beyond that, large flocks of Canada geese pollute waterways with their droppings and leave messes to clean up at public boat landings and state parks, he said.
High bacteria counts associated with Canada geese have prompted swimming advisories in some state park lakes, including Table Rock and Paris Mountain, according to the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
Tim Clepper, who heads a lake owners association in Sumter County, said the state's goose repopulation effort has made life miserable for some people in his neighborhood.
His association hired the U.S. Department of Agriculture to capture geese in early July. About 20 birds caught July 11 were slaughtered at a local pigeon processing plant. The meat was given to food banks. A similar roundup occurred in June in the Harbison area near Columbia.
"How many species of animals have we stocked in our country that became so overabundant that they were more of a problem than before?" Clepper asked. "Now, we're living with it. We have to have legal ways to control the geese."
NEW YORK GEESE
The majority of the Canada geese living in South Carolina are descendants of birds brought here from Long Island, N.Y., and suburban Philadelphia. Some also were from Delaware.
Some of the first arrivals were released at Lake Monticello in Fairfield County. They were later put on ponds after private landowners asked for the birds. Many people wanted to hunt them; others liked them for their beauty and honking calls.
Of the 190 Canada geese brought to Lake Monticello in 1979, 143 remained in 1980, showing their adaptability to South Carolina.
Tim Ivey of Natural Resources worked with Frampton on the goose repopulation project. He vividly remembers traveling to the Northeast to bring birds back to South Carolina.
Many came from metro areas that were having problems with urban geese, Ivey said. Agency workers would herd the geese into cages and truck them back to South Carolina.
"We'd spend three to four days in a row, going from 4 a.m. until 10 at night, then have to drive back," Ivey said. "It was some long hours."
In 1964, federal surveys identified 44,000 migrating Canada geese wintering in South Carolina. By 1982, the number had dropped below 10,000. In 2005, 1,400 migrating geese were spotted in federal winter surveys.
No one is sure why the geese stopped migrating in large numbers from Canada and the Northeast to the South. Many believe it is because warmer winters and more abundant food in the Northeast gave the geese less reason to migrate.
Ivey and Myers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture official in Columbia, said other Southeastern states were doing the same thing as South Carolina.
Sportsmen have long sought the birds as part of South Carolina's rich waterfowl hunting tradition.
Canada geese, which are bigger than ducks, are brown, gray and black with long necks and white patches on the sides of their heads. They thrive on roots, aquatic plants, corn and other grains.
Nuisance geese can be kept out of people's yards by planting buffers near waterways or installing fences, according to the state Department of Natural Resources and other experts. People also should not feed geese, experts say.
Joe Carter, a waterfowl hunter from Myrtle Beach, said South Carolina's 1979 decision to bring geese back helped people who can't afford to go out of state to hunt geese.
"We should thank the DNR and the good Lord for providing us with this magnificent bird, and find a way to co-exist," Carter said.
Carter called the goose roundups "a horrible program" that won't work. Other geese will replace the ones the program eliminates, he said. Animal welfare groups say the program is cruel.
But Oliver, the Wildlife Action biologist, said it's a necessary evil in today's world.
"Most people I talk to agree these geese are a nuisance problem."
Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.
Birds have become messy nuisances in S.C. suburbs
By SAMMY FRETWELL
sfretwell@thestate.com
www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/15215282.htm
From 1979 to 1987, the state wildlife department imported more than 7,000 Canada geese to replenish the goose population for hunters in South Carolina.
Today, the birds have multiplied so rapidly - 25,000 live in the state - that they've become messy nuisances in the suburbs. And, with neighborhood complaints rising, the federal government is killing some geese and loosening hunting rules for sportsmen.
South Carolina's goose troubles show how a well-intended wildlife program produced an unintended consequence - and more work for government agencies.
Hunters have more geese to stalk, but the birds are chewing up lawns, leaving droppings on sidewalks and scaring children who venture too close.
"It was a good move in the '70s, but the numbers of geese are so high now that we're at a point that we have to take out some of these geese," said Frank Oliver, a biologist with Wildlife Action Inc., a Mullins conservation group tracking the issue. "We have to do some type of management."
Greg Yarrow, a wildlife ecology professor at Clemson University, said programs to reintroduce animals often spark conflicts.
"Restocking efforts are almost always controversial," said Yarrow, who teaches a class in wildlife damage management. "You have to realize the missions of these state wildlife agencies. Their missions are to protect and conserve wildlife.
"But that mission goes counter to the interests of some of the public."
Elk, for instance, are upsetting some farmers and homeowners in parts of the Appalachian Mountains, Yarrow said.
In the 19th century, the animals were eliminated from the Appalachians by hunting and farming practices. They since have been reintroduced, but more people live in the mountains today, and they are complaining about elk walking through town or eating their plants, Yarrow said.
Gray wolves also have produced conflicts with ranchers in the West after the government attempted to restock areas, he said. And a federal plan to reintroduce red wolves in the Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston never got off the ground, in part because of concerns about landowner conflicts.
The S.C. Department of Natural Resources is well aware of nuisance goose complaints, but the agency defends the 1979-87 repopulation efforts.
For the most part, migrating geese had stopped flying to South Carolina in the winter when the state agency launched its program. More geese mean more opportunities for the state's 4,000 goose hunters, officials say.
"Our objective was to establish a resident Canada goose population" for hunting, said John Frampton, director of the state Department of Natural Resources. "If I had to do it all over again, would I do it? The answer is, 'Yes.' I've taken an awful lot of heat. But these are beautiful birds that can still be enjoyed by people, even those who don't hunt."
Nationally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to ease federal hunting restrictions on Canada geese.
In South Carolina, the Department of Natural Resources last month upped the bag limit for hunters from eight to 15 geese per day in September, while doubling the number of days open for goose hunting that month. Goose hunting is now allowed for the entire month of September. It also is allowed later in the fall and winter.
COOKED GEESE
The burgeoning goose population prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin "goose roundups" about three years ago in South Carolina, said Noel Myers, with the agency's wildlife services division in Columbia.
Myers said nuisance goose complaints are on the rise.
USDA officials would not say how many geese they have had killed this year, but Myers estimated the roundups capture an average of 50 geese per site.
This year, the Department of Agriculture has conducted about 20 roundups in which it captured geese and hauled them to a poultry slaughterhouse for processing.
That would mean about 1,000 geese have been killed this year in government roundups in South Carolina.
"Everybody wants one magic solution to the problem, but there is no magic solution," Myers said.
Oliver, a former Clemson University researcher, said Canada geese in one night can eat a garden full of beans. Beyond that, large flocks of Canada geese pollute waterways with their droppings and leave messes to clean up at public boat landings and state parks, he said.
High bacteria counts associated with Canada geese have prompted swimming advisories in some state park lakes, including Table Rock and Paris Mountain, according to the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
Tim Clepper, who heads a lake owners association in Sumter County, said the state's goose repopulation effort has made life miserable for some people in his neighborhood.
His association hired the U.S. Department of Agriculture to capture geese in early July. About 20 birds caught July 11 were slaughtered at a local pigeon processing plant. The meat was given to food banks. A similar roundup occurred in June in the Harbison area near Columbia.
"How many species of animals have we stocked in our country that became so overabundant that they were more of a problem than before?" Clepper asked. "Now, we're living with it. We have to have legal ways to control the geese."
NEW YORK GEESE
The majority of the Canada geese living in South Carolina are descendants of birds brought here from Long Island, N.Y., and suburban Philadelphia. Some also were from Delaware.
Some of the first arrivals were released at Lake Monticello in Fairfield County. They were later put on ponds after private landowners asked for the birds. Many people wanted to hunt them; others liked them for their beauty and honking calls.
Of the 190 Canada geese brought to Lake Monticello in 1979, 143 remained in 1980, showing their adaptability to South Carolina.
Tim Ivey of Natural Resources worked with Frampton on the goose repopulation project. He vividly remembers traveling to the Northeast to bring birds back to South Carolina.
Many came from metro areas that were having problems with urban geese, Ivey said. Agency workers would herd the geese into cages and truck them back to South Carolina.
"We'd spend three to four days in a row, going from 4 a.m. until 10 at night, then have to drive back," Ivey said. "It was some long hours."
In 1964, federal surveys identified 44,000 migrating Canada geese wintering in South Carolina. By 1982, the number had dropped below 10,000. In 2005, 1,400 migrating geese were spotted in federal winter surveys.
No one is sure why the geese stopped migrating in large numbers from Canada and the Northeast to the South. Many believe it is because warmer winters and more abundant food in the Northeast gave the geese less reason to migrate.
Ivey and Myers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture official in Columbia, said other Southeastern states were doing the same thing as South Carolina.
Sportsmen have long sought the birds as part of South Carolina's rich waterfowl hunting tradition.
Canada geese, which are bigger than ducks, are brown, gray and black with long necks and white patches on the sides of their heads. They thrive on roots, aquatic plants, corn and other grains.
Nuisance geese can be kept out of people's yards by planting buffers near waterways or installing fences, according to the state Department of Natural Resources and other experts. People also should not feed geese, experts say.
Joe Carter, a waterfowl hunter from Myrtle Beach, said South Carolina's 1979 decision to bring geese back helped people who can't afford to go out of state to hunt geese.
"We should thank the DNR and the good Lord for providing us with this magnificent bird, and find a way to co-exist," Carter said.
Carter called the goose roundups "a horrible program" that won't work. Other geese will replace the ones the program eliminates, he said. Animal welfare groups say the program is cruel.
But Oliver, the Wildlife Action biologist, said it's a necessary evil in today's world.
"Most people I talk to agree these geese are a nuisance problem."
Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.
