Fish & Wildlife Seeks Volunteers for Goose Banding

Here's a great opportunity to go on a wild goose chase that can make a difference.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking for volunteers to help in rounding up and placing identification bands on the legs of Canada geese at its Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area off Route 17 in Addison, starting at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 3.

"We are hoping to have between 30 and 70 individuals volunteer to help," said Andrew Bouton, state waterfowl biologist. "We request that children be accompanied by adults to help them work with the geese."

Please call the Fish and Wildlife office in Essex at 878-1564 to volunteer and leave your phone number in case the event must be rescheduled due to bad weather.

"We will meet at 8:00 a.m. at the office at the end of the driveway, past the Visitor Center. Please be prompt as we will start on time."

Volunteers should wear appropriate clothes and hiking boots or rubber boots and use adequate sun protection as there will be little shade. Bring plenty of water and be prepared to walk some in this effort to capture geese for our annual banding efforts that help us track the resident population within Vermont. All geese will be released back into the wild after we collect data.

The Canada geese nesting in Vermont today are the result of work begun at Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in the 1950s by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. The geese banded this year will be monitored to gather biological information to help monitor their population.