Bob McGrath, coordinator of Bella Vista Village's Goose Reproduction Intervention Program, has worked himself out of a job.
On July 16, McGrath told members of the Joint Advisory Committee on Lakes that only 12 nests had been found by volunteers this year, and he recommended the program be suspended.
The program started in 2009 when volunteers found 34 nests and oiled 141 eggs. The oil keeps the eggs from maturing, but the geese continue to care for the nest rather than laying a second set of eggs.
In 2011, when Lake Bella Vista was added to the program, 51 nests and 231 eggs were found.
This year, only 12 nests and 42 eggs were located. Volunteers spent 213 hours looking for nests around each area lake, including Lake Bella Vista, and on village golf courses.
At least half of the 23 goslings that were reported this year were probably hatched in the dense underbrush along Sugar Creek, McGrath said. Although that portion of the creek flows through the Country Club Golf Course, volunteers assigned to that area cannot access those nests.
The program is no longer efficient, said Darrell Bowman, lakes ecologist and fisheries manager for the Property Owners Association. There are so few nests that it's not worth the time, he said.
McGrath said he and a few other volunteers will probably continue to look for nests each spring, but it will not be a formal program. However, Bowman said he would renew the permit each year to cover McGrath and his cohorts.
Geese are considered an endangered species, so federal permits are necessary for portions of the program.
This year, Bowman will not round up geese for disposal, which has been part of the overall program to control the population of resident Canada geese. A permit allows the POA to reduce the population by 10 percent, and Bowman has rounded up live geese and taken them to a processing plant in Missouri for the last few years. The meat was donated to food banks.
Last year, it was difficult to capture the geese because their numbers were low.
The program may be brought back in the future, Bowman said. He expects the population will slowly increase and problems will reappear, but for now, the volunteers are done.
Both Bowman and McGrath said they are grateful to the many volunteers who have helped oil eggs. As many as 50 volunteers have worked each year since 2009.
Bowman also told the committee that hybrid striped bass were recently stocked at Loch Lomond and Lake Windsor.
In the past, Bowman has purchased 8-inch fish for stocking, but because of budget constraints, he asked the state Game and Fish Commission for fish left over from its stocking program. That means the fish were much smaller, but they were free and the number of them was higher.
The 8-inch fish stocked in 2011 are now 17 inches long, Bowman said. They don't reproduce naturally, so he can easily control the population. Anglers send him pictures and information as the fish are caught, he said.
The committee also heard from Vern Olafson, lakes and parks superintendent, about a new fish cleaning station that will be installed at Lake Rayburn thanks to a donation from the Bella Vista Fly Tyers. He has most of the components for the station already, but was waiting for the funds to purchase a solar powered system for the station.
Bowman said it was two members of the Fly Tyers who donated funds to purchase the system, although he did not know their names.
Olafson did not say when the project would be completed.
Sports on 07/23/2014