A flock of ducks walk around one of the playgrounds at Basil Griffin Park on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. Warren County Fiscal Court has contracted with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for a one-year, $13,000 agreement to help control the goose, duck and domestic bird issues at the park due to the potential risk to aviation flight paths and for causing traffic collision risk and disrupting land management and facility operations. (Grace Ramey/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Geese and ducks congregating by the dozens in the grassy areas of ballfields and stopping traffic as they cross Three Springs Road, common sights in recent years at Basil Griffin Park, may not be so common anymore.

Warren Fiscal Court on Aug. 13 approved a request from county Parks and Recreation Department Director Chris Kummer to enter into a contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to manage and help control the goose, duck and domestic bird issues at Griffin Park.

The one-year, $13,000 agreement with the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services and Wildlife Services divisions is needed, Kummer said, to address a growing problem.

The bird population in the park “has been causing a negative impact and potential risk to aviation flight paths, causing traffic collision risk, and disrupting land management and facility operations,” according to the documents that accompanied Kummer’s request for the USDA agreement.

Kummer noted that Griffin Park is in the flight path for the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, meaning a growing bird population at the park has led to a growing problem for aircraft.

“The airport is having some issues,” Kummer said. “We have an overpopulation of birds, and that has led to several collisions with cars.

“There’s a public health component to it as well. The overpopulation is unhealthy for the birds, and our facilities are affected on the cleanliness side.”

Such overpopulation and the resulting problems is something the USDA deals with routinely, according to District Supervisor Keith Stucker of the Kentucky office of USDA’s Wildlife Services.

“In city parks, that’s very common,” Stucker said. “It can certainly be a problem when you have overpopulation. It can be very hazardous. We can recommend management strategies to reduce that likelihood.”

The agreement presented to fiscal court by Kummer said the management strategies include live trapping with relocation, live trapping with euthanasia, nest and egg removal and hand catching.

The first phase of the management strategy, to start right away, will be to install a goose corral to capture geese unable to fly.

The next phase, scheduled for the spring of 2022, will involve nest and egg removal and removal of any overly aggressive geese.

Finally, excess geese will be rounded up during the 2022 summer molt.

While the agreement is for one year, Stucker said USDA personnel will make recommendations about environmental manipulation that will help keep the bird population under control long-term.

The objective of those recommendations, according to the text of the agreement, is to enable parks department employees to develop a “more wildlife damage-resistant environment” at the park.

Kummer emphasized that the geese and ducks, an attractive feature of the park for many visitors, won’t be going away entirely.

“We’re still going to have birds there,” he said, “but there won’t be an overabundance. That’s just unhealthy.”

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