Have your say on Canada goose population at Windsor park

Windsor residents will have their say on issues related to the Canada goose population in Goose Bay Park on the city's east side.

"If there's a lot of droppings, obviously it's a little dicey making your way through the paths and the grass and things," Mike Clement, the acting executive director of parks, told CBC last week.

City staff are holding a community consultation meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Riverside branch of the Windsor Public Library.

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The City Naturalist will be on hand to make a presentation regarding the Migratory Bird Convention Act and how it relates to the protection of the Canada goose and to discuss the habits and behaviour of Canada geese.

Parks staff will provide information regarding the maintenance and management of the park.

"You can't go out and actively harass them or anything, so our hands are tied pretty much as to what you can and can't do. But we'll be going over all those options at the meeting," Clement said.

Two years ago, the City of Windsor started working with bird experts in an effort to curb the presence of Canada geese at city parks.

The move came after complaints of aggressive geese and the feces they leave behind at city parks.

Also in 2013, hundreds of Canada geese threatening the safety of Windsor airport were herded into a horse trailer and relocated from the city to Holiday Beach in Amherstburg.

The geese were calling a retention pond at Captain Wilson Park home. But they presented a safety threat to pilots and passengers at Windsor International Airport and had to be moved.

Wednesday's meeting focuses only on Goose Bay Park, on Riverside Drive East, between Jos Janisse Avenue and Pillettee Road.

Goose Bay Park is a passive, half-acre park located on the Detroit River shoreline. It was established in 1974.

The shoreline of the park was improved with rock revetment protection in 1999.