Plans were set for geese management at the Greenwood Lake Commission meeting on Wednesday night at the Greenwood Lake Senior Center.
James Messina, Vice President of Messinas, a worldwide supplier of garden and pest control products, was on hand to give a presentation explaining his proposed plan and product.
The commission and Messinas arranged to try out the company’s product on about an acre of land in the next few weeks, at no charge, to test its effectiveness before performing a larger scale operation.
According to Messina, the proposed product is a proprietary formula not currently for sale, but is a non-lethal, non-toxic, pain-free, environmentally friendly formulation that repels Canadian geese.
The product is also odorless and dries clear, according to Messina, and all of the ingredients in it are considered safe by EPA standards.
The commission has also arranged for a landscaping company to come next week and review various properties around the lake to make their own recommendations, also at no charge.
Before Wednesday’s meeting, the commission met with volunteers from the Committee for Humane Geese Control on April 4, when the Committee presented its own detailed plan for geese management.
The committee formed after some 200 geese were exterminated last June, including at least 64 being gassed in New Jersey.
The group is concerned about using lethal methods to control the geese around the 9-mile lake that lies in both New York and New Jersey.
By all accounts, that meeting was very productive and the CHGC is now in the process of drafting letters explaining its proposed program moving forward.
The program involves a combination of different strategies, including the locating of nests and addling of eggs.
The US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) will then conduct 3-5 surveys of the entire lake at various times to check the effects of the program on the geese population.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the commission also voted on a one-year moratorium on the USDA culling program that exterminates geese.
While there were five votes in support of the moratorium, it wasn’t enough as eight are needed to pass.