Columnist Barb Henderson: It’s important to manage geese in urban settings

Barb Henderson

Friday, June 13, 2003 | 9:08 a.m.

Barb Henderson is an outdoors enthusiast, freelance writer and producer/host of outdoors radio television programming. Her column appears Friday in the Sun.

Envision a cold, brisk morning complete with snow-capped mountains, with a light blanket of frost on the ground.

Continue to imagine this setting, with a hunter huddled down inside a duck blind, during the waterfowl season. The warmth from a retriever dog's brown eyes looking up helps to keep the cold at bay. The dog sits patiently, waiting for his handler to give the "fetch" command.

Meanwhile, in the distance you hear the honking call from a flock of Canada geese as they fly in a V-shaped formation quickly approaching the hunter's blind.

Hunting is an important part of wildlife management. It's also important that geese be managed throughout the year in urban settings. Otherwise they can cause concerns.

In Reno, often there are too many geese in parks, golf courses and near the airport. During the past 16 years, wildlife agencies have had to relocate geese from the Reno area in order to properly control the bird population.

Young geese, recently trapped from golf courses and parks within the Reno area were transported last Saturday for release in our neck of the woods, near small ponds in the Overton Wildlife Management Area.

Nevada Division of Wildlife released 149 juvenile Canada geese, each fitted with numbered identification in order for wildlife biologists to keep track of their migration patterns.

Records from past releases, have indicated that when these juvenile geese mature in the fall and will eventually join up with other geese migrating through the area. Some of the geese are expected to return in spring and raise their young in the area.

The Overton Wildlife Management Area, on the outskirts of Overton, provides a wonderful atmosphere in the summer for wildlife viewing and picnics. For the hunter, the Overton Wildlife Management Area provides a variety of hunting seasons, including a wetland marsh habitat complete with duck blinds -- ideal for waterfowl season.

For more information contact the Nevada Division of Wildlife on the Internet at www.ndow.org or at 486-5127.