By BRUCE A. SCRUTON
bscruton@njherald.com
While south and central New Jersey have always been a place to hunt snow geese, the growing population of the all-white birds and their need to find food has pushed some flocks into northern New Jersey.
The growing population of both species of snow goose -- greater and lesser -- along with Ross' geese, has pushed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue special rules that have allowed states, including New Jersey, to establish special spring hunting seasons. The three species are collectively known as light geese.
New Jersey's season begins Wednesday and runs through April 18, although no hunting is allowed on Sundays.
And, like the special hunting seasons for Canada geese, there are fewer restrictions.
* Hunting will be allowed from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset and there is no daily or possession limit.
* Shotguns, using non-lead ammunition, can carry seven shells.
* Hunters can use electronic calls.
However, there are some requirements:
* Hunters must have a 2009 New Jersey hunting license as well as a 2008 federal migratory bird stamp and a 2008 New Jersey waterfowl stamp.
* The spring season also requires a special snow goose conservation order certificate, which carries a $2 administrative fee, and can be obtained only through the Division of Fish and Wildlife's license Web site. The certificates are not available at regular licensing agents.
* The certificate includes a harvest diary sheet that must be filled out each time a hunter goes out for snow geese, even if none are bagged.
* Full details are available at: www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/news/2009/snowgeese09.htm
In publishing the order in December, H. Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said, "The damage to the habitat is, in turn, harming the health of the light geese and other bird species that depend on the tundra habitat. Returning the light goose population to sustainable levels is necessary to protect this delicate habitat and every species dependent on it."
The Atlantic flyway is home to the greater snow goose, which winters from the Carolinas to New Jersey and southern New York and spends its summers on the eastern shores of northeastern Canada on into the Arctic.
The population of the greater snow goose is now estimated to be just over one million birds, about twice the number scientists believe their habitat can sustain, said Chris Dwyer, a wildlife biologist with the northest region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Several studies on various goose populations have shown the birds are literally eating themselves out of house and home. Normally, the low-growing grasses and sedges along the shores of the Arctic Ocean and Hudson's Bay thrive when their tops are clipped and they send out new shoots, similar to a suburban lawn that grows best when it is mowed.
But the population of geese has grown so large that the birds are pulling up more of the plants to get to the roots to find something to eat. When the roots are pulled, the plants die.
And as those plants die out, brush and mosses, which had been held in check by the thick turf of the grasses and sedges, move in and form a carpet that prevents the grasses and sedges from reestablishing themselves.
The phenomenon is known in biology as a trophic cascade. A similar example would be a high local population of deer eating all the lower tree and shrub growth in a forest, destroying the habitat for birds, reptiles and small mammals and causing their population to drop.
The lesser snow goose is most often found in the central United States, wintering from Louisiana and Texas all the way to Iowa and is the more abundant. Its breeding grounds are around Hudson's Bay where an estimated 5 million birds gather each summer. That is a population growth of about 300 percent since the mid-1970s.
In 1999, the service instituted a special spring hunt for the Central and Mississippi flyways that was made permanent in December when the eastern conservation order was established.
Improved feeding conditions in the greater Mississippi River valley, such as more land devoted to growing grain, helped that population to grow well beyond the capacity of its summer breeding grounds.
Damage to wintering areas in both central and eastern U.S. is now being reported and biologists have noted a marked population decrease among other shore bird populations that share the same Arctic summer breeding grounds as the light geese.
Among both species of snow geese is a genetic mutation that results in dark blue bodies with white heads in some geese, known as a blue morph.
In both white and blue morphs, some individual geese may have orange-stained heads because of the high iron content in the soil and water where they feed.
"The main purpose is to reduce these numbers," said Dwyer, who said hunting alone won't solve the problem, "but it's a step in the right direction."
