7-5 SS Geese Nesting

 Geese nesting declines in eastern Washington.

Hunting geese throughout the Northwest is almost a sacred right. Does a decline in nesting mean that geese populations are endangered? Here’s Mikal Moore Waterfowl Specialist for Washington Fish and Game:  “They are certainly not endangered. We’ve been surveying or indexing their nesting effort for quite some time out here. We go back to the same areas year after year and we count the number of nesting attempts. A lot of these are islands out on the Columbia River where they have traditionally nested. There are also a number of inland lakes like Moses Lake and Potholes Reservoir and those nesting counts have been declining over about the past 10 years and this index is part of the management plan for these birds that allows for a September hunting season. So when the three-year average goes below a certain tipping point, then we are required to close the September season. Does any expert know why it is that there has been a nesting decline? It is only speculation at this point. When we go out and look at these islands there are a couple of things that we are noticing some changes. In one case that I can think of it seems to be habitat related. There are lots of willows growing and that reduces the line of sight for the geese. Geese require a long line of sight so that they can see predators.