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SPRING UPDATE:

APLNJ’S AMAZING CANADA GOOSE PROTECTION PROGRAM
And a reminder: Goose kills commence in late spring, early summer. This is the time of year to suss out, and stop, planned gassing. To learn how, see www.savenjgeese.comFor more information, contact Doreen.Frega@aplnj.org. Click here to see our new, Canada Goose pamphlet!
Greetings goose lovers,

Last spring, APLNJ introduced our interactive Canada goose website. The site enables residents to ascertain which localities contract with USDA or other exterminators to kill geese. It consolidates fact sheets and step-by-step guidelines for action.
We are delighted to inform you that the program is working well beyond our expectations.
 
APLNJ’s indefatigable secret weapon, Special Projects Director Doreen Frega, has reached out to no fewer than 86 townships, counties, or parks.

Doreen arranges for APLNJ’s wildlife mitigation team to meet with authorities and to conduct site visits. The team consists of our award-winning (for riparian buffers) landscape architect consultant and APLNJ staff who lead the municipal and corporate outreach program.
Sewell-NJ
March 2022: The Meadows at Washington, Sewell, New Jersey. Habitat modification project designed by APLNJ consulting landscape architect.
So far,
  • Twenty-one entities (towns, parks, or a county) have canceled lethal goose removal. (Of these, nine are from Bergen.) Moving forward, they plan to use non-lethal solutions.
  • Fifty-seven entities assert they will never kill geese and will use non-lethal if or when necessary. (Twenty-four are from Bergen.)
  • Six entities are in the process of canceling USDA contracts.

Our Pennsylvania-based consultant spends a lot of time in her car! The team addresses biology, riparian buffers, water quality, non-point pollution, mechanical devices, grants, and procedures. APLNJ finds new products (sonic, radar, for example) and representatives only too happy to advise officials.   

We’ve met intransigence and resistance in surprisingly few instances (Toms River, Mercer and Ocean County parks staff). Despite the agency’s reputation, the three declare the superiority of none other than USDA’s notorious Wildlife Services. If you live in Ocean or Mercer Counties and want to help modernize either county’s needlessly inhumane approach, please contact Doreen.

Improving shorelines, restoring native grasses, shrubs, and wildflowers beautifies landscapes and deters geese on permanent or long-term bases. Niche products – only a few—can work to deter geese in certain situations. A simple, integrated approach, especially in hot spots, can go a long way toward resolving conflict and removing gold-plated invitations for Canada geese.

Non-lethal deterrents work, and they are humane. Armed with professional experience and know how, and based on biology, we are finally penetrating the wall of misinformation, willful ignorance, and simplistic jargon (“management,” “balance,” and “sound science” —the latter exemplified by USDA workers in Bermuda shorts shoving panicked geese into portable CO2 chambers) so casually and callously employed by game and conservation allies.

Ultimately, we hope to replicate that good news throughout New Jersey and in other states. The Canada goose is an incredible bird. It’s time things changed.

Susan Russell, Wildlife Policy Director