Eric:
My involvement with this network evolved
from the Blue Flag designation at Wasaga
Beach Provincial
Park in Ontario. Your question about gull wiring at
beaches reminded me of a recent presentation I attended that was given by Scott
Thomas, Superintendent at Six Mile Provincial
Park in Ontario. I checked with Scott to see if he
had any written reports or an update that I could share. There isn’t a
report but Scott did share the following:
At Six Mile Provincial Park,
a “net” type product like monofilament was not used as the issues
related to geese and they tend to not fly onto the beach but instead land on
the water and swim in to the beach area. Tactics comprised of motion activated
sprinklers (with signage) during shoulder season only, staff
“harassment” by driving Gators on the beach areas etc., hanging
coveralls from trees, and professional goose control canine performing random
visits. Of course campers on the beach are a deterrent in high use times.
The results from these activities included:
- No closed
beach days which is a reduction from 2 to 4 bad water quality samples
annually that resulted in closed beaches.
- No
written complaints from park users which is a significant reduction from
dozens of written complaints in previous years.
In conclusion, although there is no one
technique that appeared to work best; this combination of approaches has proven
to be successful in deterring geese from the beaches at Six Mile Provincial Park.
Generally the trick was to create an unwelcoming and unsettling environment which
contributed to encouraging the geese to move on.
John Fisher
Park Superintendent
Wasaga Beach Provincial
Park
Ontario Parks
From:
owner-beachnet@great-lakes.net [mailto:owner-beachnet@great-lakes.net] On Behalf Of O'Brien, Eric [DNR]
Sent: November 26, 2007 3:39 PM
To: beachnet@great-lakes.net
Subject: BEACHNET==> Gull
wiring at beaches
Hello all –
Does anyone have examples of cases where wiring was
used to deter gulls/geese from beaches? I have heard some people talk
about them being a cheap deterrent, but the only example I could find was from
Ottowa and cost sever hundred thousand dollars. Any information about who
to contact, design schematics or pictures of the systems would be very
helpful.
Thanks,
Eric
_______________________________________________
Eric
O’Brien
Beach
Monitoring Coordinator
Iowa
DNR, Water Monitoring
109
Trowbridge Hall
Iowa City, IA
52242-1319
Office:
(319) 353-2835
Cell:
(319) 560-6128
Email: Eric.OBrien@dnr.iowa.gov
_______________________________________________