Ecological Approach to managing problems caused by urban Canada geese

Urban-suburban Canada geese (Branta canadensis) create nuisance problems at their foraging sites by littering them with feces. An ecological approach to the problem involves inducing the geese to use alternate foraging sites by reducing the attractiveness of problem sites. This can be accomplished by reducing the forage quality at the nuisance site by not fertilizing and infrequently mowing the lawn or by replacing the lawn with a less palatable grass species or other ground cover. Further, sites can be made less attractive to geese if they are surrounded by tall trees which make it harder for geese to land or take off, and planting bushes and hedges to reduce a goose's ability to watch for approaching predators. Another approach involves relocating roosting areas to more remote sites so that geese have to expend greater time and energy to reach the problem site.