Our Liviiii; Resources — Birtis 



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Canada geese {B.c. fiilva). and dusky Canada 

 geese ^B.c■. occiileukilis) are of special concern 

 because of their limited geographic distribu- 

 tions and small numbers. 



Inventory of Arctic Geese 



An annual index of the Pacific black brant 

 population has been obtained since 1964 by the 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS ) during 

 aerial surveys of wintering areas along the 

 Pacific coast (Bartonek 1994a). Population 

 trends of cackling Canada geese and greater 

 white-fronted geese from 1965 to 1979 were 

 based on surveys conducted by USFWS and 

 state agency biologists on migration areas in the 

 Klamath Basin of Oregon and California. 

 Population trends of those two species from 

 1980 to 1993 were based on coordinated sur- 

 veys on wintering areas (Bartonek 1994b). 



Emperor geese have been inventoried by 

 USFWS biologists during aerial surveys of 

 spring and fall migration areas on the Alaska 

 Peninsula and the YKD .since 1980 (Bartonek 

 1992). We used the highest count within a year 

 to determine the population trend for emperor 

 geese. Population indices for tule white-fronted 

 geese were obtained from surveys on wintering 

 and migration areas in the Pacific Flyway in 

 intermittent years since 1978. Aleutian Canada 

 geese have been counted on a spring staging 

 area in northern California since 1973. Dusky 

 Canada geese have been inventoried on their 

 wintering areas in the Pacific Flyway since 

 1953. There are no data on population trends of 

 Vancouver Canada geese; however, the winter 

 population in the northern portion of southeast- 

 em Alaska was estimated by USFWS biologists 

 in 1986. 



Status of Alaskan Geese 



Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Geese 



Most geese on the YKD nest within 30 km 

 (15-20 mi) of the Bering Sea hut winter in 

 diverse areas. Pacific black brant primarily win- 

 ter along the Pacific coast of Mexico while 

 greater white-fronted geese and cackling 

 Canada geese primarily winter in the Central 

 Valley of California. In recent years, increasing 

 numbers of cackling Canada geese have win- 

 tered in Oregon. Most emperor geese winter in 

 the Aleutian Islands. 



These four species experienced sharp popu- 

 lation declines {30'7c-50%) between the early 

 1960"s and mid-l980"s (Fig. 1). The declines 

 were likely due to the combined effects of sub- 

 sistence harvest of breeding birds and eggs on 

 the YKD, excessive sport harvest on the winter- 

 ing areas, poor weather during nesting, and fox 



predation of nests (USFWS 1989). In 1984. the 

 USFWS, Yupik Natives, state wildlife agencies, 

 and sport hunters cooperated to reduce sport 

 and subsistence harvest. Since then populations 

 of cackling Canada geese and greater white- 

 fronted geese have begun to recover while 

 emperor geese and black brant remain near his- 

 torical lows (Fig. 1). Poor winter survival of 

 juvenile emperor geese may be slowing recov- 

 ery of that species (Schniutz et al. 1994). Winter 

 sur\ i\al of cackling Canada geese has improved 

 since the reduction in sport hunting: however, 

 there is no evidence that their survival in sum- 

 mer has improved (Raveling et al. 1992). 



TUIe White-fronted Geese 



The only known nesting area for tule white- 

 fronted geese is in Upper Cook Inlet (Timm et 

 al. 1982) and the adjacent Susitna in south-cen- 

 tral Alaska. Tule geese may also occur on the 

 Innoko National Wildlife Refuge in western 

 Alaska. The numbers of tule geese counted on 

 wintering areas in the Central Valley of 

 California in recent years are higher than during 

 the late 1970"s (Fig. 2). It is unclear if the 

 increase is due to population growth or because 

 of improved understanding of the winter distri- 

 bution. 



150 

 120 



90 



60 



30 

 ■ 



"0 



<%& 



Emperor geese 



Pacific black brant 



40 



■ 



64 67 70 73 76 79 82 85 88 91 

 Year 



Fig. 1. Population trends of arctic 

 geese tlial nest on llie Yulcon- 

 Kusl<okwim Delta, Alaska (1964- 

 93). 



