| "Keeping Birds from Fowling the Grounds" |
 by Melinda Rizzo Friday, September 21, 2007 (Mt. Laurel, NJ) — They weigh from three to 24 pounds, can grow to 48 inches in height, produce a prolific number of offspring, and they poop a lot. Canada geese are in New Jersey to stay, taking up residence on corporate campuses, parks and golf courses all along the eastern coastal portion of the Atlantic Flyway, a migratory path from Canada through Mexico. "Geese present a real problem because they soil and decimate lawns, pollute water elements on a property, and they can be really nasty to people," said Jonathan Gosnell, a property management professional with Community Management Services Group, a grounds care company based in Mount Laurel, N.J. Contaminated water sources, goose-splattered cars and walkways, as well as rogue gangs of geese roving around business parks honking and chasing employees doesn't make for a pleasant outdoor work environment, according to Gosnell. "Spending a small fraction -- in some cases maybe 2 percent -- of a grounds maintenance budget to protect a much larger investment when Canadian geese populations are controlled on a commercial or community property is a small price to pay," Gosnell said. Geese are like flying cows, said Dr. Larry Katz, chairman of the Animal Science Department at the School of Environmental and Biological Science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. "A large flock can ruin lawns and landscaping almost overnight," he said. Gosnell said his clients had agreed to a variety of deterrents, including hanging lines across ponds and putting up plastic decoys, but ultimately, getting the geese was a dog's job. "When Geese Chasers brought in their Border collies, the geese were gone in a week," Gosnell said. Geese Chasers LLC is a geese management firm based in Mount Laurel that uses dogs to scare and harass the geese. The dogs are trained to stop short of touching the geese, but their behavior effectively makes the "nesting" site inhospitable. Fees for the service range from $199 to $799 per week depending on the size of the site, the severity of the goose infestation and the number of visits required per week. Most firms opt for annual contracts and maintenance visits after the initial problem is resolved. Robert Young, owner of Geese Chasers, said Canada geese populations have soared over the past decade and are increasing by about 15 percent per year. Young's business has grown proportionately, from revenue of $488,080 in 2004 to $634,000 in 2006. Staff has doubled from five to 10. Young estimates there are about 100,000 resident Canada geese living in New Jersey. The bird is a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, even though many of them no longer migrate. Jersey's birds typically don't migrate. "Geese don't have long migration patterns. They usually don't move more than 20 to 100 miles, so they're not exactly flying south for the winter. They're already there," Young said. Enthusiastic poop machines, Canada geese wreak havoc in southern New Jersey -- much to the dismay of businesses, farmers and anyone hoping to enjoy swathes of open space in their communities. At a minimum of one-half-pound of poop per bird per day, and when they're really busy as much as two pounds per day per bird, geese can make short work of clearing industrial complex lawns and then smearing their droppings pretty much everywhere they waddle. The United States Department of Agriculture said it couldn't estimate the cost to private industry and local governments for goose control, but New Jersey ranked No. 1 in the nation from 1994 through 1998 for requests to the government for geese management services. "Property damage accounted for 70 percent of complaints," said Carol Bannerman, public affairs specialist for federal legislative and public affairs and wildlife services, a department of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based in Riverdale, MD. Canada geese can be bad for business. Think of board meetings and treacherously green slicked parking lots and walkways. Think of the unlikely pairing of goose poop and Gucci shoes. Mark Rozanski, property manager for American Metro Corporate Park Center in Hamilton, said his firm spends about 6 percent of its annual grounds and maintenance budget to control Canada geese. Rozanski said a recent business meeting held at the American Metro Corporate Park Center by one of his corporate tenants prompted immediate action. "These directors had to walk through a lot of goose droppings to get inside. We called Geese Chasers and within a week, the geese were gone," Rozanski said. Rozanski has signed a one-year contract with Geese Chasers. Gregg Armbruster, golfing greens superintendent at the Medford Lakes Country Club in Medford, said Geese Chasers cleared the club greens of web-footed undesirables in short order. "Canadian Geese are the last thing you want at a golf club," Armbruster said. "They're dangerous because they can be aggressive and territorial on the golf greens. They'll chase golfers, especially when they are sitting on a nest," Armbruster explained.  Other solutions for removing geese include "oiling" the eggs and leaving the egg on the nest (this legal method of bird birth control suffocates the chick and discourages the geese from breeding again as long as an egg is in the nest), planting wild flowers, tall grasses or other types of vegetation, and fencing water sources. "Geese don't like tall grass and won't build nests in it," said Katz, the Rutgers administrator. Katz said the English-styled garden approach to corporate landscaping is part of the problem. "Geese love close-clipped grass. If you have a water source nearby that's great, too, and those are the conditions you see in most commercial and business park settings," Katz said. During the summer months, resident New Jersey geese will head north, but typically not much farther than Michigan, Katz said. Like just about any species, the Canada goose has adapted. "About 70 years ago, a small number of geese came here, and they wintered over. Then they returned to their Arctic homes. Since then, they've set up nesting sites, had offspring and settled in," Katz said. |