Goose hunting season opens Saturday in Southwest Washington, continuing the annual balancing act of harvesting birds from the plentiful subspecies while minimizing the kill of the long-suffering dusky Canada geese.
The plight of the dusky goose is well-known in Southwest Washington and northern Oregon. To recap, duskys nest primarily on the Copper River Delta in Alaska and is the only goose that historically wintered exclusively in the Willamette Valley and along the lower Columbia River.
A 1964 earthquake uplifted the Copper River Delta by 2 to 6 feet. This altered the frequency of tidal flooding and resulted in growth of shrubs and willow now 10 to 20 feet tall.
Increased predation by bears, wolves, coyotes and bald eagles has occurred, although the intensity is variable from year to year.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s annual waterfowl population report says the estimated spring population of duskys in Alaska this year was 9,500, a 42 percent improvement over 2009, which was the worst since 1986.
The population goal is 16,000.
“It’s a tough situation,” said Bob Trost of Vancouver , Pacific Flyway Council representative for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “There’s been a change in their habitat through an environmental action over which we had no control.”
Washington, Oregon, Alaska the federal wildlife agency, the U.S. Forest Service and others have been working for two decades to help the dusky population survive.
Cooperative efforts have created hundreds of artificial nest islands on the Copper River Delta to provide safe sites away from the brushy corridors used by predators.
But the No. 1 predator of duskys are bald eagles, and nobody’s going to be shooting eagles to save geese, Trost said.
There are about 300 of the artificial nests on the delta and the nesting success is better at the sites, but far from 100 percent, he said.
“The goal is to keep them hanging on until they establish other nesting places,” Trost said. “The problem is poor recruitment over time.”
In the 1980s, the wildlife agencies tried to establish another dusky population on Middleton Island in the the Gulf of Alaska. Birds from the delta were transplanted.
The number of geese on the island increased rapidly, then stabilized. But geneticists are not sure if the Middleton Island birds truly are duskys, although they are categorized as such.
“It’s a large island, but there’s not a lot of goose habitat,” he said.
Will duskys survive?
“I don’t think anyone knows the answer,” Trost said. “The hope is to maintain the population until they begin finding other suitable habitat that will allow them to persist over time.”
While the duskys struggle, other goose populations that winter locally are doing well. Farmers along the lower Columbia River and in the Willamette Valley deal with goose damage to their crops on an annual basis.
“What hunting we have gives the landowners a break on depredation,” he said.
Here’s what the 2010 waterfowl report says about other goose populations found in Southwest Washington:
Cacklers — The fall estimate is 188,600 cackling Canada geese, 17 percent higher than in 2009.
Cacklers nest on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of western Alaska. Nesting success was above average. The population has been increasing at an average of 2 percent a year since 2001.
Lesser, Taverner’s — Taverner’s nest more in the tundra areas of western Alaska and the North Slope. Lesser Canada geese tend to nest in the interior of Alaska.
Both subspecies mix with other Canada geese and reliable estimates are not made.
Spring conditions were warm and dry in interior Alaska and little flooding occurred. Production of lesser Canada geese was above average. Taverner’s production was above average in the Yukon Delta and below average from the North Slope.
ONLINE: For much more about West Coast waterfowl, go to www.pacificflyway.gov.
HUNTING SEASONS: In Clark, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties, the season is Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from Nov. 13 to 28 and Dec. 8 to Jan. 30. Christmas and New Year’s Day are closed.
At Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, the season is Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Nov. 13 to 27 and Dec. 9 to Jan. 29. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day are closed.
Shooting of geese is only allowed between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Hunters must have written authorization from the state, which is achieved by completing a goose identification course.
All birds harvested must be tagged at one of several stations in Southwest Washington, including the Department of Fish and Wildlife office at 2108 Grand Blvd.
There is a quota of 40 dusky Canada geese, allocated five to Ridgefield refuge, five to southern Cowlitz County, 18 to Clark County other than the refuge, seven to northern Cowlitz and Wahkikaum counties and five to Pacific County.
Hunters who kill a dusky Canada goose will get their authorization invalidated.
