The history of Horicon Marsh’s ‘Goose Wars’

The honks of migrating geese flying overhead is a hallmark of the fall season for naturalist Bill Volkert, who worked at Horicon Marsh for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for 27 years. The birds also remind Volkert of a time when state and federal officials attempted to chase geese off the marsh — the so-called “Goose Wars” that occurred during the 1960s and ’70s. “They had to do something desperate,” Volkert said, “and we really didn’t understand the behavior of the geese.” Understanding Wisconsin, Together. WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter. Company This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Email Subscribe Each fall, tens of thousands of Canada geese leave their breeding grounds near Hudson Bay in Canada and make their way to Horicon Marsh in Dodge County. They use the marsh as a pit stop during their migration journey. “They have an unusual migration. It’s not just north/south, but they’re actually cutting across the country from Alaska to the Atlantic coast,” Volkert said. The geese from Hudson Bay are part of the Mississippi Valley Population of Canada geese. Also at the marsh are the resident “giant” Canada geese — a subspecies that can weigh up to 18 pounds. A brief history of Horicon Marsh To tell the story of Horicon’s geese is to also tell the story of the marsh, a vast wetland that is today about 32,000 acres of cattails and open water. In 1846, European farmers molded the marsh to their liking, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources . They dammed the marsh to power a sawmill, and it became Lake Horicon. Then, in the early 1900s, farmers drained the Horicon Marsh as they searched for mucky, moist soil. DNR records report their crop growing attempts failed and caused peat moss fires. All of the marsh-shaping efforts were devastating to geese and other wildlife at the marsh, according to the DNR . A win for conservation-minded Wisconsinites finally came in 1927. Through various legislation , the marsh became a wildlife refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In the 1950s and ’60s, the DNR lured geese back to the marsh with food plots . Soon, it became apparent that the mission to bring geese and other birds back to Horicon Marsh had attracted great numbers of the Mississippi Valley Population. Robert Personius, then-manager of the national refuge at Horicon, told the New York Times in 1966 that 121,000 geese had stopped at the marsh in the fall of 1965 — almost tripling the amount recorded there in 1958 . The Goose Wars begin As geese numbers rose at Horicon Marsh, concern grew. Some biologists thought the concentration of birds would lead to a disease outbreak, Volkert said, and area farmers battled crop damage caused by hungry geese. State and federal agencies partnered to launch a goose reduction program in the mid-1960s. Its goal was to drive away the geese in the wider Horicon Marsh area by flying airplanes, lighting exploders and driving airboats. Personius told the New York Times in 1966 that the marsh couldn’t feed the growing geese population. He also cited hunters in southern states as a reason for the hazing: the plan was “to more equitably distribute the geese to provide more sportsmen with hunting opportunities.” The State of Wisconsin pulled out of the Goose Wars and took the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to court in September 1966. The New York Times reported Wisconsin Attorney General Bronson C. La Follette argued that “the racket at Horicon violated a state Conservation Commission rule, with force of law, against frightening waterfowl.” Goose War II The federal government resumed their goose reduction plan in the mid-1970s when the geese returned to the marsh in full force. “There were a quarter million Canada geese on Horicon Marsh by the mid-’70s, and at that time, the entire regional population was just over 300,000. We had two thirds of the entire regional population of migrant Canada geese on one single property,” Volkert said. Scott Craven witnessed the onslaught of geese in 1974. Now a retired UW Extension wildlife ecologist and member of the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame, Craven was a graduate student trying to make sense of geese migration and behavior. “It was chaotic,” Craven remembered. “What would have been a relatively peaceful place, where you could go sit somewhere and watch geese flying around, was disrupted by the banging of the cannons and the incredible roar of the airboats, and lots of unhappy geese honking and flying around.” Volkert said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service planted a food plot off of Highway 49 to draw geese from the marsh. The large flocks at the food plots held up traffic. “They actually had problems on fall weekends, especially in the month of October, as birds were building up,” Volkert said. “They had parked full all of the shoulders and (had) people stopping in the highways, and they actually had to have the police out there as traffic control.” Geese fever at the marsh The public took interest in what Volkert called the “fall spectacle of geese.” People loved seeing the large, identifiable birds at the marsh, Volkert said. He began giving geese talks to crowds of hundreds of Horicon Marsh visitors. Volkert would stand on a fence ledge and share goose facts for 45 minutes. As Volkert’s speeches came to a close, the geese took flight. He remembered watching a flock of about 23,000 geese take off, their wings and bodies suffocating the sunlight. Volkert’s supervisor attended one of his talks and counted between 600 and 800 people in attendance, all interested in the geese. Soon after, Volkert earned a role as the marsh’s wildlife educator. “I owe my job to the geese,” Volkert said. Margie King of Mt. Horeb remembers visiting Horicon Marsh in the 1970s with her husband and two young daughters. She said they saw thousands of geese there. “It was a real experience, especially for all of us, to go see that many geese in one place at a time, and to see them flying and the formations,” King said. “The sounds were incredible.” Advocacy group calls for the end of Geese War II Meanwhile, advocacy groups like the Citizens Natural Resources Association of Wisconsin objected to the goose hazing. Members circulated petitions calling for the end of the geese reduction efforts. In 1977, the CNRA collected more than 28,000 signatures against the dewatering of the marsh and the geese hazing. “The most telling criticism that I remember was wildlife artist Owen Gromme, who was very well known at the time,” Craven said. Gromme painted “ Requiem Horicon Marsh: 1917-1976 ,” which shows geese flying and landing at a drained, destitute Horican Marsh. He donated the proceeds from the sale of his painting to the CNRA’s defense fund, which was used to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent the dewatering of the marsh . The CNRA lost the lawsuit, but subsequent policy changes reflect the CNRA’s positions, according to the organization’s website. After five years, Goose War II came to a close. Volkert and Craven said the cost of the program was likely the reason for its end. It also faced mounting public opposition. Plus, the geese didn’t leave Horicon Marsh. “From research conducted on goose behavior, it didn’t achieve its objectives,” Volkert said in an email to WPR. Geese are very habitual creatures, Craven’s research found. It would be hard to sway them from their path. Some geese he banded had been coming to the same corner of the marsh for a decade. Craven likens them to seasonal road trippers who know the best gas stations along the highway. Geese at the marsh today Today, Horicon Marsh is still a popular stopover spot for Canada geese. DNR numbers show about 100,000 to 20