Central Flyway

Five populations of Canada geese are managed within the boundaries of the Central Flyway: the Tallgrass Prairie (TGPP), Shortgrass Prairie (SGPP), Hi-Line (HLP), Western Prairie (WPP), and Great Plains (GPP). Birds from the TGPP and SGPP nest in the Arctic, while birds from the HLP and WPP nest on the Canadian prairies and in parts of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Most birds in the GPP originated from goose releases on the Canadian prairies and northern Great Plains. Interestingly, the SGPP is the only population of Canada geese in North America to have declined in the past decade, following a series of poor hatches caused by unfavorable weather conditions on their Arctic breeding grounds.

Winter counts of Canada geese in the Central Flyway have almost doubled from 680,000 in the early 1980s to 1.2 million birds in 2004. Not surprisingly, the harvest of Canada geese in the Central Flyway has also increased from less than 100,000 birds in 1965 to nearly 800,000 birds by 2001. Winter surveys do not account for all the geese in the flyway but are used to monitor the health of goose populations on key wintering areas.

Pacific Flyway

Things can get a little complicated on the West Coast, and goose management in the Pacific Flyway is no exception. Waterfowl managers recognize seven subspecies of Canada geese in this flyway: Aleutian, cackling, dusky, lesser, Taverner's, Vancouver, and western Canada geese. Populations of most of these subspecies have increased, with total numbers going from 180,000 in the 1970s to more than 600,000 birds today. Duskies provide the only exception to this trend, and that takes us to the complicated part.

Duskies breed exclusively in Alaska's Copper River Delta and at one time were the only geese wintering in the Lower Columbia Basin of southwest Washington and northwest Oregon. In 1964, a major earthquake converted much of the Copper River Delta from low-lying marsh to upland. As a result, nests and goslings became easy prey for predators now wandering the much drier delta. By the 1970s, dusky numbers had fallen below 20,000 birds.

One solution was to close all hunting of dusky geese. But wintering duskies were no longer alone in the Lower Columbia Basin; they had been joined by six other subspecies of Canada geese. Growing goose numbers were a problem, especially for farmers running grass-seed operations. Because closed seasons were not an option, waterfowl managers devised an innovative idea to protect duskies and allow hunters to help control geese. Hunters must now pass a test to demonstrate their ability to distinguish duskies from other subspecies—on the wing! Without this permit, you can't hunt geese in the region.

Complicated hunting regulations aside, the most unique story in the Pacific Flyway belongs to the Aleutian Canada goose. Aleutians historically nested throughout Alaska's island chain. In the early 1900s, fur farmers began releasing arctic and red foxes onto these islands with predictable consequences. By the 1960s, the Aleutian population had plummeted to less than a thousand birds, and in 1973, Aleutians were formally protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Shortly thereafter, biologists began to identify areas of California and Oregon used by Aleutians during fall and winter. These areas were subsequently closed to all Canada goose hunting. At the same time, efforts to eradicate foxes on several nesting islands were beginning to pay off, and by 1990, the population had reached 7,000 birds. By 2001, Aleutians were declared fully recovered, and by 2002, bird numbers had topped 60,000. Remarkably, hunting of Aleutian geese was reinstated in the fall of 2003.

The final chapter in the Pacific Flyway is one of redistribution, and it involves the smallest of all geese, the cackling Canada goose. Historically, most cacklers migrated through the Klamath Basin on their way to wintering grounds in the Central Valley of California. In the 1960s, surveys of cacklers in the Klamath Basin routinely counted over 300,000 birds. By the early 1980s, the Klamath counts had fallen below 30,000 geese. The decline in cackler numbers probably resulted from spring subsistence hunting in Alaska and fall harvest in California, so harvest restrictions were adopted in the late 1970s. But that wasn't the entire story. Biologists suspected that some of the Klamath Basin decline was due to a shift in cackler distribution. They were right. Coordinated surveys throughout the Pacific Flyway revealed that most cacklers were now wintering in the Willamette Valley and Lower Columbia Basin of Washington and Oregon. With a better understanding of bird distribution and careful harvest management, the population of cacklers was restored to more than 200,000 birds.