Canada geese polluting Lake Tahoe

[hikerduane]

Anyone see this in the paper? http://www.canoe.ca/mb2/messages/cnewsf/10603.html

[SteveB]

Hey! We let Celine Dion have Vegas! Who let the Canadian Geese have Tahoe???

[Kerstin]

I find it interesting how the article doesn't go into why the geese are using the Tahoe area as more than a stopover point now. I also find it interesting how so many homeowners here just have to rip out the beautiful native vegatation and have a lawn installed. (And they don't use these lawns for anything.)

I used to work at a lakefront motel. My former boss used to complain endlessly about the goose poop all over his beach. On one side of the motel, there was a sandy strip of land that extended to the parking lot. What did he do to this land? He installed a lawn.

You should see the geese on the golf courses around here! They love to eat the grass, which contains fertilizer residues. They then roost on the lake, and of course, have to poop. These golf courses used to be natural fertilizer-free meadows.

Blaming geese for fouling the lake because they like to eat grass is like blaming a bear for getting into your garbage-filled trash can.

[madeintahoe]

Kerstin..Thank you!! So nice to hear another Tahoe resident's view on this! I so agree with everything you said..Yes why some homeowners here in the Tahoe basin have to have a green grass lawn instead of the natural vegetation I too do not understand...and then they complain because the geese are on there beautiful manicured fertilized lawns and poop on them & yes they complain again if a bear gets into there garbage because they did not have it bear proof container. I am so sick of people complaining of the native wildlife here ....they choose to live here, yet do not take steps to keep wildlife off of there property. It is all a very sad situation to me, the geese relocation should never had happened. If people would stop feeding them & stop putting in green lawns, then they would not want to stay here all the time. And if every homeowner had a bear proof container & was not sloppy with garbage left outside...the bears would stay in the forest & out of the residential areas. It's very sad & depressing what is happening here in Tahoe with the native wildlife...You and I live here and see it...but the tourist and second homeowners do not see what is happening. Sorry to be so negative and go on about it, but it's so frustrating to me. It was very refreshing to me to read your thoughts..I wish more people saw it like you do.
Thank you again