Population Study of Canada Geese of Jackson Hole

Abstract

Dimmick (1968) considered the 1964 Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) of Jackson Hole to be stabilized at approximately 300 birds, of which 40-47 percent were breeding pairs. Despite a near doubling of the Canada Goose populations in the United States between 1955 and 1974, the Pacific Flyway populations of Canada Geese appear to have declined 10 percent (Bellrose 1976). An evaluation of the significance and causes of that decline will require careful studies of the various individual populations of Canada Geese representing the Pacific Flyway. The current status of the Jackson Hole Canada Goose population is unknown, as is the nature of the impacts on that population by the dramatic local increase of the human population and the attendant land use and associated developments. Man-induced environmental factors, i.e., PCB and other toxicants, on the wintering grounds and migration routes exert additional unknown impacts.