Geese Flyway Must Be

Protected From Intrusion

* The article on Canada geese in the Valley (Nov. 10) was terrific. There are few spectacles more exciting than a hundred geese flying across the sky in a long, strung-out line, circling and coming in for a landing. Their loud call is the very essence of wildness.

The five areas you highlighted are indeed the only remaining open spaces for the geese in the entire city. These areas must be protected from intrusion or development or the time may come when the geese will give up on the San Fernando Valley and we will have lost a gift of great value.

The article mentioned the Pierce College project, where 30,000 truckloads of dirt dumped on the farm will certainly frighten off most of the thousand migrating geese that have been seen there in the past. The agricultural school has not been flourishing in recent years, and there are persistent rumors that the farmland will be sold. If that occurs, not only the geese will suffer, but residents and passersby who treasure this green oasis will lose out.

A police driver-training facility is planned for the Van Norman Reservoir. It will skirt the edge of a flourishing bird sanctuary, and the noise will undoubtedly drive away many of the year-round resident birds as well as the geese. Disturbance could be minimized if the road were set back a reasonable distance from the sanctuary.

Chatsworth Reservoir is another fine habitat for geese and other birds. Plans for residential development and for golf courses crop up from time to time. Declaring Chatsworth a wildlife preserve will assure the continued presence of geese, many other migrating birds and interesting residents like road runners.

Sepulveda Basin used to be a great place for geese when corn was planted there. But sod farming has replaced the corn almost entirely, and the goose population in the winter has declined alarmingly.

As for Encino Reservoir, where most of the geese spend the night, a filtration plant is to be built.

If construction takes place between October and March, the noise and activity of the workers and heavy equipment will certainly keep the geese away from their accustomed overnight refuge.

So let’s not take the Canada geese for granted. If we want to keep the geese in the Valley, we will have to see that the few surviving feeding areas remain available to these splendid birds.

SANDY WOHLGEMUTH

Reseda