Number: 1998-16
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation is the nation’s largest conservation education organization and is dedicated to protecting our environment and conserving and restoring wildlife and their habitats; and
WHEREAS, the mid-continent population of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens) is a valuable waterfowl resource of international importance that has increased dramatically in the last ten years; and
WHEREAS, the fragile tundra habitat of these geese in large portions of the Arctic ecosystem along and west of Hudson Bay is undergoing widespread devastation caused by overgrazing due to overpopulation of these geese as a result of the abundance of food on winter ranges; and
WHEREAS, this largely pristine tundra habitats is important not only to sustainable populations of lesser snow geese, but to many other bird species as well as other plant and animal species; and
WHEREAS, scientific research suggests that the alterations of plant community composition and structure and increased soil salinity due to the overgrazing by lesser snow geese of their nesting habitat may be irreversible; and
WHEREAS, current agricultural practices and hunting regulations on the wintering grounds, along migratory routes and in staging areas of Lesser Snow Geese are perpetuating lesser snow goose populations at levels higher than breeding habitat can endure without destruction of that breeding habitat; and
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has long supported and endorsed the sound scientific management of wildlife and the habitats upon which wildlife depend; and
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation believes controlled hunting and native harvests to be the most appropriate scientifically based strategies for reducing the mid-continent population of Lesser Snow Geese;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled March 19-22, 1998, in Alexandria, Virginia, reiterates its support for the sound scientific and sustainable management of wildlife and their habitats; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation encourages and advocates the immediate development and implementation of sound, scientifically based strategies to reduce the mid-continental population of lesser snow geese to levels at which their breeding habitat can be maintained; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation recommends that priority be given to harvest strategies including more liberal federal regulatory guidelines specifically targeting lesser snow geese hunting methods and native harvests before other control measures are employed, if necessary; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges continued research and the restoration, where possible, of the fragile and critically important subarctic tundra habitat destroyed or degraded by snow goose overgrazing; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation encourages and advocates the development and implementation of long-term strategies relative to land-use practices, including agriculture, harvest methods and regulatory controls on the wintering grounds, along migratory routes, and in the staging areas of the mid-continental population of lesser snow geese to help maintain their population at a level which will conserve their Arctic ecosystem.