Randall G. Cutting wrote:
> Dorie Rae Gallagher wrote: >>On another note...where can the geese go and be left to migrate as their >>natural innate calling if not down by the Flats. My own opinion..leave >>the geese alone down there. This is going to be such a sterile world if >>we have nothing but buildings and cement without wildlife/fowl because of >>their droppings. Maybe we should not have gone down there and developed >>so they would have had a place for comfort without man monitoring them >>other than afar.
> The problem is not just that there geese, the problem is goose over > population and loss of habitat. > > In 1990 the Minnesota Canadian Goose spring population was 45,000. In > 2001 the population rose to 290,000 which DNR biologists think is 100,000 > geese more than would be ideal. Compare those numbers with this year’s > estimate of 375,000 geese in the Minnesota population (although biologists > think this year’s estimate may be skewed high).
> the metropolitan area. Just as cars on 35W and 62 are forced together in > the commons bottleneck, so too are migrating geese concentrated along the > Mississippi river. The loss of good habitat in the metro area forces > geese to follow an increasingly narrow path along the river. Then when > the geese need to stop, rest, or feed they look for suitable places along > the river.
Randall's numbers are highly illuminating.
But I don't think it is a loss of habitat that is the problem, and likewise I suspect it is not concentrated migrating geese that are the problem, either.
I've read repeatedly that many of the problem geese are non-migrating geese. That is, life has gotten so easy for them, even in winter, that they stay here year around.
I believe that one factor which has caused the large increases in geese populations as a whole and in non-migrating geese populations in particular is the man-made environments which geese find suitable as habitat.
Ever visited a suburban office park with any kind of water nearby? Geese, and lots of them. How many hundreds of office parks do we have in the metro area? How many have fountains or ponds with aeration which tend not to freeze in winter? How much run off from man-made structures is keeping the more "natural" ponds from freezing?
Likewise, ever visited a golf course with any kind of water feature nearby (which in Minnesota means virtually every gold course)? Geese, and lots of them. We've created lots of habitat that geese apparently love.
I'm sure there are other factors, including mankind-induced loss of predators. But when you have 2 to 5 times as many geese as naturally occur, it's going to be a problem. Handing out 50,000 goose dinners at Thanksgiving would go a long way towards solving the problem and absolutely would not be an ecological disaster.
Chris Johnson - Fulton
REMINDERS:
1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
