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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Twin Cities Campus Department of Fisheries and Wildlife College of Natural Resources Monday, October 18, 1999 Mr. Joel Hanson City Administrator City of Little Canada 515 Little Canada Road Little Canada, MN 55117 200 Hodson Hall 1980 Falwell Avenue St. Paul, MN 55108 -6124 612- 624 -3600 Fax: 612- 625 -5299 h ttp : / /www.fiv, umn. edu/ Dear Mr. Hanson: The 1999 Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Canada goose capture and removal program was completed in late July. The results show a significant decline in the geese trapped in a year of excellent production and the highest number of trapping locations. We trapped at 126 sites compared 121 in 1998, and capturing 1,925 adult geese in contrast to 2,395 last year, and 4,250 gosling compared to 5,183 in 1998 (attached Table 1 & Figure 1). The 19% decrease in the number of birds trapped occurred in spite of a 4% increase in the number of trapping locations (Figure 2). In addition, gosling production was only slightly below that of 1998 and 1997 -- 1997 was the highest year in past 18 years (Figure 3). Moreover, the number of new trapping sites which increased in 1998, (23 %) of the total sites, was even higher in 1999 (25 %). vie The 1999 capture crews trapped 98.6% of' all flightless geese they attempted to capture, a 0.1% increase over last year (Figure 4). While the summer was wanner that 1997 and 1998, the number of geese dying during trapping was very low (Table 1). Only one adult goose died during trapping, and no birds were captured with pre- existing injuries so serious that they had to be humanly killed. So with more new sites, more sites overall, great production, and a high trapping rate, the 1999 goose removal declined by 1,403 birds. Why? When I reviewed the number of geese at sites in many of the cities where we have trapped for a number of years, the 1999 goose number clearly show a decline in geese present at these locations. After 18 years of The Department of Fisheries and Wi Minnesota C Page 65 S. Department of the Interior Unit.