The Effects of Native Vegetation Buffer on the Canadian Geese Population in Vilas Park

The Canadian geese population throughout most parts of North America has increased over the years and has become a nuisance in some suburban and urban areas. There are particular problems, especially in the area of Vilas Park where there are soccer fields and playgrounds (known as zone 2 – Appendix A). As a way to minimize the number of geese and goslings that are in zone 2, the Friends of Lake Wingra and the City of Madison planted a native vegetation buffer along the shoreline of Lake Wingra in the zone 2 area. This planting took place in the early summer of 2005 and continued in 2006. In an effort to measure the effect of the native vegetation buffer on the number of geese and goslings in zone 2, we analyzed data collected by students at Edgewood College. The data include geese and gosling counts taken over the past several years throughout Vilas Park. The data indicates that the native vegetation buffer has been effective in reducing the number of geese and goslings in the zone 2 area during months when the vegetation is present. It seems reasonable that the Friends of Lake Wingra and the City of Madison should expand their effort to plant the native vegetation into other zones where geese are deemed to be a nuisance