All of the nesting islands of Aleutian Canada geese are protected as part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The Service has an extensive program working cooperatively with partners to protect and manage wintering habitat on state and private lands in California. About 8,000 acres have been protected on migration and wintering grounds and are being managed for Aleutian Canada geese, but some key parcels still need to be secured, both in the Modesto, California, area where geese from the Aleutian Islands winter, and near Pacific City, Oregon, where the geese from the Semidi Islands spend the winter. The Service currently is working with private landowners and other agencies to protect and manage critical feeding areas while alleviating crop depredation. Because many waterfowl species in the Pacific Flyway gather in huge numbers on their wintering grounds, they are vulnerable to disease.
Avian cholera is a highly infectious bird disease that can cause massive waterfowl die-offs.
On the wintering grounds in California, avian cholera is a chronic low-level problem for Aleutian Canada geese, but is being managed successfully because dead and dying waterfowl are picked up to reduce the risk of spreading disease to healthy geese. The Aleutian Canada Goose Recovery Team has prepared a disease and contamination hazard contingency plan that outlines procedures for a coordinated effort by waterfowl managers to reduce the severity of both disease and contamination hazards. Waterfowl managers on the goose's wintering grounds must remain vigilant in order to combat this disease. In 1992, we sent 19 captive Aleutian Canada geese to Russia in order to start a captive flock in Kamchatka. Eighteen of these birds have been observed on wintering grounds in Japan.