§ 21.168 - Public health control order for resident Canada geese.

§ 21.168 Public health control order for resident Canada geese.

(a) Which Canada geese are covered by this order? This regulation addresses the control and management of resident Canada geese (Branta canadensis), as defined in § 21.6.

(b) What is the public health control order for resident Canada geese, and what is its purpose? The public health control order for resident Canada geese authorizes States, Tribes, and the District of Columbia, via the State or Tribal wildlife agency, to conduct resident Canada goose control and management activities including direct control strategies such as trapping and relocation, nest and egg destruction, gosling and adult trapping and culling programs, or other lethal and non-lethal wildlife damage-management strategies when resident Canada geese are posing a direct threat to human health.

(c) What is a direct threat to human health? A direct threat to human health is one where a Federal, State, Tribal, or local public health agency has determined that resident Canada geese pose a specific, immediate human health threat by creating conditions conducive to the transmission of human or zoonotic pathogens. The State or Tribe may not use this control order for situations in which resident Canada geese are merely causing a nuisance.

(d) Who may participate in the program? Only State and Tribal wildlife agencies in the lower 48 States and the District of Columbia (or their employees or agents) may conduct and implement the various components of the public health control order for resident Canada geese.

(e) What are the restrictions of the public health depredation order for resident Canada geese? The public health control order for resident Canada geese is subject to the following restrictions:

(1) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies should use nonlethal goose management tools to the extent they deem appropriate.

(2)

(i) Methods of take for the control of resident Canada geese are at the State's and Tribe's discretion from among the following:

(A) Egg oiling,

(B) Egg and nest destruction,

(C) Shotguns,

(D) Lethal and live traps,

(E) Nets,

(F) Registered animal drugs, pesticides, and repellants,

(G) Cervical dislocation, and

(H) CO₂ asphyxiation.

(ii) Birds caught live may be euthanized or transported and relocated to another site approved by the State or Tribal wildlife agency, if required.

(iii) All techniques used must be in accordance with other Federal, State, Tribal, and local laws, and their use must comply with any labeling restrictions.

(iv) Persons using shotguns must use nontoxic shot, as listed in § 20.21(j) of this subchapter.

(v) Persons using egg oiling must use 100 percent corn oil, a substance exempted from regulation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

(3) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies and their employees and agents may conduct management and control activities, involving the take of resident Canada geese, under this section between April 1 and August 31. The destruction of resident Canada goose nests and eggs may take place at any time of year.

(4) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies and their employees and agents may possess, transport, and otherwise dispose of resident Canada geese taken under this section. Disposal of birds taken under this order may be by donation to public museums or public institutions for scientific or educational purposes, processing for human consumption and subsequent distribution free of charge to charitable organizations, or burial or incineration. States, their employees, and designated agents may not sell, offer for sale, barter, or ship for the purpose of sale or barter any resident Canada geese taken under this section, nor their plumage or eggs. Any specimens needed for scientific purposes as determined by the Regional Director must not be destroyed, and information on birds carrying metal leg bands must be submitted to the Bird Banding Laboratory by means of a toll-free telephone number at 1-800-327-BAND (or 2263).

(5) Resident Canada geese may be taken only within the specified area of the direct threat to human health.

(6) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies, and their employees and agents operating under the provisions of this section may not use decoys, calls, or other devices to lure birds within gun range.

(7) No person conducting activities under this section should construe the program as authorizing the killing of resident Canada geese or destruction of their nests and eggs contrary to any State law or regulation, nor may any control activities be conducted on any Federal land without specific authorization by the responsible management agency. No person may exercise the privileges granted under this section unless they possess any permits required for such activities by any State or Federal land manager.

(8) Any State or Tribal employee or designated agent authorized to carry out activities under this section must have a copy of the State's or Tribal authorization and designation in their possession when carrying out any activities. If the State or Tribe is conducting operations on private property, the State or Tribe must also require the property owner or occupant on whose premises resident Canada goose activities are being conducted to allow, at all reasonable times, including during actual operations, free and unrestricted access to any Service special agent or refuge officer, State or Tribal wildlife or deputy wildlife agent, warden, protector, or other wildlife law enforcement officer on the premises where they are, or were, conducting activities. Furthermore, any State or Tribal employee or designated agent conducting such activities must promptly furnish whatever information is required concerning such activities to any such wildlife officer.

(9) States and Tribes exercising the privileges granted by this section must submit an annual report summarizing activities, including the numbers and County of birds taken, by December 31 of each year to the Regional Migratory Bird Permit Office listed in § 2.2 of this subchapter.

(10) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies may not undertake any actions under this section if the activities adversely affect other migratory birds or species designated as endangered or threatened under the authority of the Endangered Species Act. Persons operating under this order must immediately report the take of any species protected under the Endangered Species Act to the Service. Further, to protect certain species from being adversely affected by management actions, State and Tribal wildlife agencies must:

(i) Follow the Federal-State Contingency Plan for the whooping crane;

(ii) Conduct no activities within 300 meters of a whooping crane or Mississippi sandhill crane nest;

(iii) Follow all Regional (or National when available) Bald Eagle Nesting Management guidelines for all management activities;

(iv) Contact the Arizona Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services Office (for the Colorado River and Arizona sites) or the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office (for Salton Sea sites) if control activities are proposed in or around occupied habitats (cattail or cattail bulrush marshes) to discuss the proposed activity and ensure that implementation will not adversely affect clapper rails or their habitats; and

(v) In California, any control activities of resident Canada geese in areas used by the following species listed under the Endangered Species Act must be done in coordination with the appropriate local FWS field office and in accordance with standard local operating procedures for avoiding adverse effects to the species or its critical habitat:

(A) Birds: Light-footed clapper rail, California clapper rail, Yuma clapper rail, California least tern, southwestern willow flycatcher, least Bell's vireo, western snowy plover, California gnatcatcher.

(B) Amphibians: California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander.

(C) Insects: Valley elderberry longhorn beetle and delta green ground beetle.

(D) Crustaceans: Vernal pool fairy shrimp, conservancy fairy shrimp, longhorn fairy shrimp, vernal pool tadpole shrimp, San Diego fairy shrimp, and Riverside fairy shrimp.

(E) Plants: Butte County meadowfoam, large-flowered wooly meadowfoam, Cook's lomatium, Contra Costa goldfields, Hoover's spurge, fleshy owl's clover, Colusa grass, hairy Orcutt grass, Solano grass, Greene's tuctoria, Sacramento Valley Orcutt grass, San Joaquin Valley Orcutt grass, slender Orcutt grass, California Orcutt grass, spreading navarretia, and San Jacinto Valley crownscale.

(f) Can the control order be suspended? We reserve the right to suspend or revoke a State's or Tribe's authority under this program if we find that the terms and conditions specified in the depredation order have not been adhered to by that agency. Final decisions to revoke authority will be made by the appropriate Regional Director. The criteria and procedures for suspension, revocation, reconsideration, and appeal are outlined in §§ 13.27 through 13.29 of this subchapter. For the purposes of this section, “issuing officer” means the Regional Director and “permit” means the authority to act under this control order. For purposes of § 13.29(e), appeals must be made to the Director. Additionally, at such time that we determine that resident Canada geese populations no longer pose direct threats to human health, we may choose to terminate part or all of the control order by subsequent regulation. In all cases, we will annually review the necessity and effectiveness of the control order.

(g) Information collection requirements. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the information collection requirements associated with this control order and assigned OMB Control Number 1018-0146. Federal agencies may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Direct comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of the information collection to the Service's Information Collection Clearance Officer at the address provided at 50 CFR 2.1(b).

[71 FR 45990, Aug. 10, 2006, as amended at 79 FR 43966, July 29, 2014; 84 FR 28773, June 20, 2019. Redesignated at 87 FR 882, Jan. 7, 2022; 87 FR 883, Jan. 7, 2022; 87 FR 66095, Nov. 2, 2022]