Green fields & beaches again bombarded with goose poop

LACONIA — Doug Shaw woke yesterday to count 58 Canada geese grazing and defecating in his backyard on Franklin Street, overlooking Lake Opechee. "Every morning there are geese on lawns all the way up and down the street," he said, "and they really make a mess."

"The goose problem has come home to roost," punned City Manager Scott Myers, who added that Kevin Dunleavy, director of Parks and Recreation, was taking the matter in hand.

"It's that time of year," Dunleavy sighed with a hint of resignation. He said that large numbers of geese have congregated at Opechee Park and Weirs Beach as well as in some neighborhoods bordering the water.

"The parks are prime real estate, a real Taj Mahal, for geese," he said, explaining that geese feed on short, succulent grass — preferably Kentucky Bluegrass with which the playing fields at Opechee Park are sown — in open areas with unfettered access to water.

But, what goes in, comes out. A goose may defecate as after as every 20 minutes and leave a pound or more of droppings in the course of a day.

"All you can do is rake it up and bag it with the lawn mower," Shaw said. "It's awful."

Dunleavy said that there are a variety of measures to deter geese, but some of the most effective cannot be used in the parks and beaches. For instance, geese will not cross barriers, either fencing or plantings along the shoreline, but neither are suited to public beaches.

Dunleavy said that geese were a nuisance along the downtown riverwalk near the Beacon Street West condominiums until he strung plastic fencing along the riverbank and planted vegetation between river and the pathway. "That has worked," he said. "But, we can't do that at the parks and beaches."

Alternatively the turf can be treated with a grape extract that causes indigestion in geese, but because the product is expensive and must be replenished after rainfall it is not a practical solution.

The geese come ashore at night, when the parks and beaches are empty, Dunleavy said, noting that some have recommended reflective ribbons and simulated predators as a deterrent only to find the geese become accustomed to them. Action motivated sprinklers are more effective, he said, but while they may be practical for the limited space of homeowners, they would be too costly for the city to deploy.

Instead, Dunleavy intends to haze or harass the geese with pyrotechnic flares in hopes of driving them away, a strategy recommended by the Wildlife Services Bureau of the United States Department of Agriculture and widely followed in states with large Canada goose populations. He said that he and Amy Lovisek, assistant director of the department, will set upon the flocks in the early morning hours to treat them to a fireworks display.

"It's not an easy task," Dunleavy remarked.