REPORT TO PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Introduction of an Integrated Goose Management Plan for Central Park and Recommendation
Report
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Clara Central Park includes the Central Park Lake, surrounded by planted areas and grass that attract waterfowl. Over the past few years, the Canada Geese and Mallards population has increased and produced excessive amounts of waste that exceeds the capacity of the daily grounds maintenance program to keep pathways, fields, meadows and recreational amenities clean and sanitary for public use. Each Canada Goose produces approximately a pound and half of feces per day, which deposits into the lake and its surroundings more than 600 pounds per day. The Central Park Canada Goose population is non-migratory. They forage and nest at the site, thereby creating several negative impacts year-round at the community park.
The management activities of the Canada Goose and Mallards are regulated by the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and subsequent revisions, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). While the City has used various approved methods to deter geese, such as movable predator land decoys (coyote mannequins); floating water decoys (alligator mannequins), geese panic sounds, grass treatments, and physical barriers, additional steps are needed to address the community's complaints and concerns, as well as to educate and inform policy and management practices that include the community's understanding and support. To that end, the City has retained the services of avian biologist, Daniel Edelstein, who has specific Bay Area experience and who has developed a draft Integrated Goose Management Plan (IGMP) in order to provide community, staff and Council with research, information and proposed effective strategies to protect the wildlife while reducing the increasingly negative and unsustainable impacts the Canada Goose and Mallard have on the Central Park lake water quali...
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