The CRD finds a solution to Canadian geese overpopulation

Just over seven months have passed since the Capital Regional District (CRD) found a solution to the geese problem, as restoration work and partnerships have proven the project as a much-needed event. For years, geese have tormented local species and communities on the Island with harsh attitudes, heavy appetites, and huge amounts of feces.

Having been a fully migratory species brought in to increase hunting opportunities on the Island in the ’70s, the past few decades have changed the geese with cross-breeding and a lack of predators; now, the Canadian icons can no longer make the Island their year-round home, as Peninsula Streams Society (PSS), Guardians of our Salish Estuaries Society (GooSE), along with a number of other partners create partnerships to reawaken the ecosystem.

“It's a habitat solution to keep geese out of the surge marshes on Vancouver Island that have an Indigenous touch to it,” says Tim Clermont, executive director of GooSE and member of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. “It simulates similar to the old Indigenous fish weirs that were common hundreds of years ago; the First Nations used it to catch salmon and other forage fish that they ate, and now we're doing it to protect critical salmon habitat.”