HIrJs — Our Livitii^ Resourci's 



Fi;;. 2. Pupiilalmn Ircnds of 

 Aleutian Canada geese (1975-9?!. 

 dusky Canada geese (1953-93), 

 and tule white-fronted geese 

 (1978-89). 



£ 30 



o 



5 26 



53 58 63 68 73 78 83 88 



93 



(NO".". 



Tule white-fronted geese 



78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 

 Year 



Dusky Canada Geese 



Dusky Canada geese primarily nest on the 

 Copper River Delta of south-central Alaska, the 

 islands of Prince William Sound, and Middleton 

 Island in the Gulf of Alaska. They winter in the 

 Willamette Valley of Oregon and the lower 

 Columbia River. The population was stable or 

 increased between the 1950's and I970"s. 

 During the early 1980"s, however, the popula- 

 tion declined, then stabilized at a lower level in 

 the mid-198()"s (Fig. 2). The decline was large- 

 ly due to reduced nesting success as a result of 

 habitat changes on the nesting area following 

 the 1964 Alaska earthquake. Invasion of shrubs 

 and loss of wet meadow habitats resulted in 

 more mammalian predators and greater nest 

 predation (Subcommittee on Dusky Canada 

 Geese 1992). 



Aleutian Canada Geese 



Although once abundant on the Aleutian, 

 Commander, and Kuril islands, the numbers of 

 Aleutian Canada geese were greatly reduced by 

 fo.xes and dogs introduced to nesting islands by 

 commercial fur farmers before World War II 

 (Byrd and Woolington 1983). The subspecies 

 was classified as endangered in 1967, and by 

 the mid-l970"s fewer than 800 individuals 

 remained (USFWS 1991). Sport harvest on 

 migration and wintering areas in Oregon and 



California was stopped in 1975. and fo.\ control 

 was initiated on nesting islands. Geese were 

 also transplanted to fox-free islands. The popu- 

 lation of Aleutian Canada geese responded to 

 recovery efforts and has grown to more than 

 9,000 individuals (Fig. 2). The status of the sub- 

 species was changed from endangered to threat- 

 ened in 1991. 



Vancouver Canada Geese 



Vancouver Canada geese nest and use 

 brood-rearing areas in southeastern Alaska 

 (Lebeda and Ratti 1983) and winter on coastal 

 wetlands near the breeding areas. Few data on 

 breeding numbers exist because Vancouver 

 Canada geese nest in coastal forests and are dif- 

 ficult to survey. About 10,000 Vancouver Canada 

 geese wintered in the northern portion of south- 

 eastern Alaska in 1986 (Hodges and Conant 

 1986). Wintering sites are scattered among 

 coastal wetlands and have not been consistently 

 surveyed. Consequently, populalion trends of 

 this subspecies are not known. Population trends 

 are likely intlueneed by environmental variables 

 because sport and subsistence harvest are mini- 

 mal (King and Derksen 1986). 



Status of Habitats of Special 

 Concern 



Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta 



The YKD (Fig. 3) is the primary waterfowl 

 nesting area in Alaska (King and Dau 1981 ); it 

 provides critical nesting and brood-rearing 

 habitat for more than 400,000 geese. In addi- 

 tion, the entire population of Wrangel Island 

 lesser snow geese uses the YKD during fall 

 staging (Ely et al. 1993). While much of the 

 YKD is within the Yukon Delta National 

 Wildlife Refuge, it is also a region where more 

 than 17,000 Yupik Natives live in 40 Native vil- 

 lages. Large private inholdings, primarily 

 Native corporation lands, exist within the refuge 

 and contain impoilant waterfowl nesting habi- 

 tat. Meeting the subsistence needs of Native 

 people while maintaining or enhancing water- 

 fowl populations on the YKD requires close 

 coordination among the Yupik Natives and fed- 

 eral and state agencies. Management of subsis- 

 tence waterfowl harvest on the YKD has been 

 difficult becau.se of cultural differences and 

 constraints imposed by the Migratory Bird 

 Treaty Act. Coordinated management efforts 

 will be especially important in the future as 

 Native populations increase. 



Izembek Lagoon 



Nearly the entire world population of more 

 than 120,000 Pacific black brant uses Izembek 



