Unsurprisingly, goose poop still a massive problem on Okanagan beaches

Tip-toeing through the goose feces littering the grass at Vernon's Kin Beach on Okanagan Lake it's a wonder why anyone would bother going there. With the number of geese outnumbering people by about 15 to one, on a stinking hot weekday in the middle of July there are surprisingly few people out and about on the beach and about 150 geese. "It should be full, it's July, it should be packed," a woman pulling her paddleboard onto the beach told iNFOnews.ca. The geese, or precisely, the mess they leave, has been a bone of contention in Vernon and many other communities dotted around Okanagan Lake for years. It also seems like one of those issues that really should have been dealt with by now. The paddleboarder said she'd stopped coming to Kin Beach in the last couple of years as the geese have taken over. Sitting under a tree with his wife and nine-year daughter, Vancouverite Phil Schulze said it's his first time at the beach and laughs when asked about the geese and the poop. "It's pretty much all we're been talking about since we got here," Schulze said. "We didn't put our blanket down because of that... I'm being very cautious about where we put our things down, it's not pleasant." Luckily he had beach chairs in the car. "This beach was recommended to us (and) it's everything they said it would be, it's quiet, lots of sun, lots of sand... however, there was no comment on the Canada geese."  In town for a week's vacation, Schulze said he wouldn't come back to Kin Beach. While there have always been geese, or at least since they were introduced decades ago, some believe the situation is worsening. Sitting a short distance away Amy McMeeain says in the eight years she'd lived in Vernon she thinks it's gotten worse. "It's a beautiful beach, it's too bad," she said, adding she normally goes to Kal Beach on Kalamalka Lake in Coldstream instead these days. Donicia Hilchey is hanging out with her nine-year-old daughter down by the water. The geese had shown interest in her daughter's chips and were brazen in their approach for a snack. Hilchey shooed them off and said she wasn't fazed by the geese. "As long as you don't bother them they won't bother you," she said, joking that they're called "cobra chickens" for a reason. She lives nearby and comes to the beach a lot, she's also the only person iNFOnews.ca spoke to who wasn't bothered by the birds. "The beach is cleared up daily, (there are) sweepers in the water," she said. From her vantage point on the sand near the water, there does appear to be a lot less goose poop than further up the sand and onto the grass surrounding the playground. And does she believe the numbers are growing? "I think there are more babies this year," she said. For Vernon resident Clint Houlbrook the goose poop at Kin Beach is a frustrating and daily annoyance. He lives close to the beach and goes there daily. He said he counted 150 geese on the beach last week. "Everybody is complaining," he said. "Go ahead and throw a frisbee around or play catch with a ball, you're stepping in goose poop and you get it all over your hands every time you pick your ball or your disc up." Whether there are more geese on Okanagan beaches this year is hard to answer. "It feels like that, but it might be a redistribution," Okanagan Valley Goose Management Committee coordinator Kate Hagmeier said. Hagmeier has been at the forefront of the Okanagan's goose control program for more than 15 years and runs the yearly goose egg addling program. She said last year's wildfires displaced a lot of birds, and wetlands have also dried up. The birds have now found new homes elsewhere. "With the change in habit maybe our number hasn't gone up but we're seeing them concentrating in smaller pockets of areas and those of the pockets where people are," she said. Data from this year's aerial goose count hasn't yet been analyzed, and forest fires in the last couple of years have prevented it from taking place. What Hagmeier does know is that there are about 2,000 to 2,500 geese in the Okanagan and about 400 nests. Around 325 of the nests get addled. Others can't be reached due to the terrain and some are on private land where owners refuse to give them access. The addling also doesn't take place on the north arm of Okanagan Lake as there is no agreement in place with the Okanagan Indian Band. Hagmeier said through management the geese population is expected to rise about 10% each year. While it sounds like a lot, left unchecked around 750 geese would be added each year. While her organization addles the eggs, shaking them to become infertile, they can only do it to nests they can find and reach. She said a collection of nests has appeared on the bluffs directly opposite Peachland. "There are geese that are nesting on those cliffs that haven't nested there before and we can not reach them," she said. "I know that Peachland is frustrated," she said. District of Peachland Mayor Patrick Van Minsel said he wasn't sure if there were any more geese than normal, but the municipality was continuing its usual geese mitigation procedures. While local governments dotted around the lake have different tactics in dealing with the birds the one issue Peachland, Vernon and others have is that they create the perfect environment for geese. "Peachland is lovely," Hagmeier said. "They have zero barrier between the water and the grass and the street... so of course the geese are going to go there because they are being invited." Vernon's Kin Beach is much the same and anyone who's walked along the Kelowna lakeshore boardwalk will have seen the geese hanging out on the pristine lawns. Peachland's mayor said the goose issue needed a long-term region-wide solution and said he had "no preference" when asked if he would support a cull. "If they become a health hazard we need to look at all the things we can do," Van Minsel said. The option of culling the birds does seem like a quick and easy solution to the issue and is supported by Environment and Climate Change Canada. However, Vernon's attempt in 2020 didn't go smoothly. After being rejected by Vernon council the first time around, when the motion to cull https://infotel.ca/newsitem/vernon-council-approves-goose-cull-but-silence-on-kill-method/it80739 did finally pass the city couldn't find a contractor https://infotel.ca/newsitem/why-vernons-goose-cull-got-killed/it89837 to do the work. However, earlier this year Vernon council did agree to spend $100,000 on a three-year goose harvesting program run by the organization Guardians Of Our Salish Estuaries, although no geese have yet been killed. Back on Kin Beach, Houlbrook says you can't play bocce without getting your hands covered in goose poop. Instead, he has another game to play on the beach: the beach towel challenge. "Try and find a spot to lay a beach towel down without it touching goose poop?" he said. "Nobody will be able to complete that challenge." And looking at the beach it would be hard to lay a facecloth down with it touching goose poop let alone a beach towel. To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer mailto:bbulmer@infonews.ca  or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .