Management changes planned for Aleutian Canada gee

[Jennie@ifish]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Contact: Brad Wurfel (503) 947-6020

Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us Fax: (503) 947-6009




For Immediate Release Friday, July 1, 2005



Management changes planned for Aleutian Canada geese



SALEM - With Governor Kulongoski's signature today of House Bill 2881, which removes Aleutian Canada geese from the state's Endangered Species List, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it has approved temporary rules to begin making management changes for the species.



The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is expected to approve the rule at its July 8 meeting, and the administrative process to complete the removal of the species from the state list is expected at the August Commission meeting.



"We are pleased to see the continued recovery of Aleutian Canada geese throughout their range," said Commission Chair Marla Rae. "Oregon's farmers have played a particularly important role through their patience and cooperation with state and federal wildlife managers as ever-increasing flocks have used their fields along the migration routes."



Since 1990, the annual rate of growth of the goose population, based on peak counts of birds in California, has averaged about 20 percent. The overall annual growth rate of the population since recovery activities began in the 1970s has been about 14 percent.



The most recent population estimate of Aleutian Canada geese comes from their staging area near Crescent City, Calif., in 2004-05. This estimate suggests that the Aleutian Canada goose population is approximately 64,000 individuals. This exceeds the proposed Pacific Flyway population objective of 60,000.



The growing number of geese has created some problems, however, for the agricultural landowners who live along the migration route.



Many geese forage on intensively managed, privately owned pastures during the spring and fall migrations in Oregon and California, and can cause significant damage to crops. An increasingly serious problem is developing on private pastures in the Langlois area of southern coastal Oregon, where more than 40,000 geese concentrate for several weeks or longer each April after leaving the Smith River area. In recent years the geese have been arriving earlier in the spring, with hundreds to thousands of birds present by early March.



"Removing Aleutian Canada geese from the state Endangered Species List offers state wildlife managers more options for mitigating agricultural damage while promoting healthy goose numbers," said Ron Anglin, ODFW Wildlife Division administrator. "We will have more flexibility to work with both private and public landowners to develop solutions."



Most private landowners of pastures where the geese congregate are willing to support some of the burden resulting from foraging geese, noted Anglin, although many would like to see more goose management taking place on publicly held lands.



Aleutian Canada geese currently use about 150 acres within the New River Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) administered by the Bureau of Land Management. This habitat is suitable for resting and roosting, but not for feeding.



Nearly 3,000 acres of suitable goose habitat in the area occurs on adjacent private lands. The easing of restrictions on hazing that will come with the delisting of Aleutian Canada geese will allow private landowners who do not welcome the geese to discourage the birds from using their lands.



The delisting also will allow the Commission to authorize hunting seasons for Aleutian Canada geese within federal frameworks. Any hunting seasons authorized by ODFW will be aimed at assisting with damage issues while continuing to maintain geese populations at the desired population objectives.



The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission first listed the Aleutian Canada goose as an endangered species at the state level in January 1975. The Commission reconfirmed the Aleutian Canada goose listing in 1988, 1993 and 1998 during formal periodic reviews. The species was removed from the federal threatened list in 2001.



With the delisting of the species by the Legislature, which takes effect immediately upon the Governor's signature of HB 2881, ODFW will implement a temporary rule to remove the Aleutian Canada goose from the state's threatened and endangered list. The department then will propose permanent ratification of the rule by the Commission at its August meeting as part of the development of the fall game bird hunting seasons.



See ORS 496.176 and OAR 635-100-0112 for more details.



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