Spring Starts Early on the Tundra

Snow goose hunters have likely noticed that there are fewer juveniles in the flocks returning to the tundra during the spring light goose conservation order. That’s due to a dramatic population shift from a peak of 20 million mid-continent snows in 2007 to 5 million in 2022. 

Low production is primarily linked to changes in weather on the Arctic and sub-Arctic nesting grounds. Warming trends in the northern reaches of Canada have altered the short window in which snow and Ross’s geese can raise their young. Spring is coming earlier, and while nest timing has advanced slightly, it has not kept pace with the rate of vegetation growth. Goslings hatch after critical peak nutrients are available in foods, weakening their body condition and lowering their survival chances. Nearly a decade of cold and rain during peak hatch dates also increased gosling mortality.

But snow geese are resilient. In 2023 and 2024, juveniles accounted for 20% to 30% of the mid-continent population following favorable summer conditions. If you’re worried about the conservation order becoming more restrictive, population and harvest rate thresholds must intersect at the same time for harvest regulations to change. 

We’ve come close once since the first conservation order in the late 1990s. In 2024, the three-year average population fell to 4.74 million, just below the 5 million-bird closure threshold. However, harvest rates were not high enough to trigger a restrictive spring conservation order. —Joe Genzel