ADC has been working cooperatively with FWS in Alaska for 
the protection and restoration of the Aleutian Canada goose. 
Fur trappers introduced the nonindigenous Arctic fox onto 
many of the islands in the Aleutian chain in the late 1800's. 
The islands are the primary breeding and nesting sites for a 
host of seabirds and marine mammals, and were not 
previously inhabited by mammalian land predators. Fox 
predation caused a dramatic decrease in the number of 
Aleutian geese, which are now considered threatened as a 
species. During the year, ADC and FWS began a 
cooperative program to eradicate the Arctic fox from two 
islands in the Aleutian chain. By the end of the summer, the 
fox control program was completed, and now that the 
predators have been eliminated, FWS plans to reintroduce 
Aleutian geese to these islands. 
ADC has been cooperating with Federal, State, and local 
agencies to protect threatened and endangered salmon 
smolt from predation as they migrate downstream in the 
Columbia and Snake Rivers in Washington State. A series 
of dams on these rivers concentrates the young salmon as 
they attempt to pass through. Many of the smolts are briefly 
stunned as they wash through the dams. Gulls, other fish- 
eating birds, and northern squawfish prey heavily on the 
stunned fish before they can recover and swim away. To 
help protect the young salmon, ADC has installed overhead 
wires over the past several years to exclude gulls from 
critical water pools. ADC personnel have also conducted 
control activities with noisemaking and other scare tactics to 
keep birds away from these areas. Additionally, during 
1996, ADC continued the northern-squawfish control project 
below two dams on the upper Columbia River. About 9,000 
squawfish were captured and removed in those areas where 
severe predation was occurring. 
Other Natural Resources Protected 
ADC is negotiating with the Department of Interior's National 
Park Service (NPS) to develop a deer damage-management 
program at Gettysburg National Military Park in 
Pennsylvania. Overpopulation by white-tailed deer at the 
park has caused significant problems to much of the native 
vegetation at Gettysburg. This vegetation has historical 
significance, and NPS officials are looking at ways to reduce 
the impact of deer on the plants. 
Beavers have seriously hurt trout survival in many streams 
in Wisconsin. By damming up streams, beavers prevents 
trout from moving upstream to spawn. Beaver dams also 
hamper the flow of streams, thereby reducing the oxygen 
levels in the water and causing the trout to die. The 
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources provided ADC 
with an additional $86,000 to control beaver damage on 
trout streams. Revenues for Wisconsin's beaver control 
program came from sales of the State’s trout stamp. 
Currently, ADC helps protect more than 700 miles of 
streams in Wisconsin. 
A rat removal program began in the summer of 1996 on 
Sand Island, part of Midway Atoll. The 1,205-acre Sand 
Island is the last of the atoll’s three islands to have rats. In 2 
previous years, ADC controlled rats on Eastern Island and 
Spit Island. The Sand Island project is being funded by the 
U.S. Navy and is part of the cleanup effort being made 
before the island is handed over to FWS as a wildlife refuge. 
Midway Atoll is home for numerous seabirds, including the 
largest Layson albatross colony in the Pacific. Seabirds are 
not the only beneficiaries of rat eradication: hatching green 
sea turtles, a threatened species, have a better posthatch 
survival rate without rats. ADC has succeeded in eliminating 
rats on a number of other atolls, including Kure Atoll in 
Hawaii and Rose Atoll in American Samoa. 
In April, employees at a high-rise hotel in Reno, NV, notified 
local television stations that a Canada goose was nesting on 
the ledge of the 21st floor. The goose got considerable 
attention and media coverage, but then the hotel’s 
managers realized that the soon-to-be hatched goslings 
would not likely survive a fall to the ground. To ensure the 
hatchlings’ safety, hotel personnel asked ADC to remove the 
nest. The ADC biologists used the chemical immobilizing 
agent alpha-chloralose to tranquilize the goose and then 
collected her eggs. The goose and eggs were then turned 
over to a local bird rehabilitator. All the eggs hatched, and 
the birds were eventually released. 
ADC provided assistance to the local humane society in Lee 
County, AL, to help capture a wolf that had escaped from 
captivity. The wolf had been purchased from an exoiic 
animal dealer in Florida and moved to Auburn, AL, where it 
escaped and began preying on livestock. Members of the 
local humane society asked ADC for assistance after their 
efforts to capture the animal were unsuccessful. ADC 
provided soft-catch foothold traps and onsite training to 
humane society personnel. The wolf was trapped and 
returned to the owner a short time later. 
ADC Program Highlights, 1996/11 
