This US Fish and Wildlife Service news release relates to a topic recently
discussed on Tweeters: Snow Goose populations.

Scott Richardson
Seattle
----------
> From: Mitch Snow <mitch_snow at mail.fws.gov>
> To: fws-news at dataadmin.irm.r9.fws.gov
> Subject: SNOW GOOSE POPULATION EXPLOSION
> Date: Wednesday, April 02, 1997 5:42 AM
>
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> April 1, 1997 Hugh Vickery 202-208-5634
>
> REPORT WARNS THAT SNOW GOOSE POPULATION EXPLOSION
> THREATENS ARCTIC ECOSYSTEMS
>
> In the mid-1980s, wildlife biologists and conservationists
> struggled to reverse a sharp decline in duck populations by
> restoring wetlands in key nesting areas. The effort was
> successful. Boosted by 3 years of plentiful rainfall and
> millions of acres of restored wetlands, this fall's duck
> migration was estimated to be the largest on record.
>
> A decade later, biologists are facing a completely different
> challenge. Instead of too few ducks, the problem today is too
> many snow geese--so many, in fact, that they are causing
> ecological havoc on their arctic breeding grounds.
>
> A recently published report by the Arctic Goose Habitat Working
> Group, comprised of U.S. and Canadian biologists, found that even
> liberalized hunting seasons for snow geese have failed to stop
> the population explosion and, by the most conservative estimates,
> the number of birds is rising at 5 percent a year.
>
> The long-term impact of the population explosion is still
> uncertain, the report said, but the possibility exists that the
> overabundance could cause a decline in other species that nest in
> the same arctic region. These include semipalmated sandpipers,
> red-necked phalaropes, yellow rails, American wigeons, northern
> shovelers, and a variety of passerines.
>
> "The geese are literally consuming their own habitat," said Paul
> Schmidt, chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Migratory
> Bird Management Office and co-chair of the Arctic Goose Joint
> Venture of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. "They
> break open the turf and uproot plants, especially grasses and
> sedges, leading to erosion and increased soil salinity. In turn,
> fewer plants grow and you have a vicious cycle with habitat
> conditions growing worse each year. The end result is a
> degradation of the fragile arctic ecosystem. It is an ecosystem
> in peril."
>
> The Working Group's report cited changes in agricultural
> practices that have increased food supplies and reduced the
> winter mortality rate among snow geese. In addition, the growing
> availability of Federal and state refuges has expanded the
> suitable habitat for the birds and dispersed geese over wide
> areas, increasing survival rates.
>
> Action needs to be taken soon, Schmidt said. "The damage to the
> ecosystem is not only severe but it also has the potential to be
> long-lasting," he said. "Experiments show it takes at least 15
> years for grasses to begin to come back on damaged, hypersaline
> soil."
>
> While hunting is certainly part of a solution, the report said
> that more recreational hunting as governed by current regulations
> and treaty obligations is unlikely to solve the problem by
> itself.
>
> Possible solutions cited in the report include loosening
> regulations on baiting, electronic calls, and concealment during
> spring "snow goose only" seasons; expanding late season hunting
> before March 10; and negotiating a revision to the Migratory Bird
> Convention with Canada to allow appropriate hunting of migratory
> birds between March 10 and September 1.
>
> "These are uncommon solutions, but these are uncommon times and
> we can't sit by and ignore this problem," Schmidt said. "We
> expect to discuss the problem during the coming year and develop
> an effective strategy in 1998."
>
> -FWS-
>
>
>
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