Canada Geese and their abundant droppings can be a real nuisance for cottagers. Geese also contribute to swimmer's itch, which is a rash caused by tiny parasites found in ducks and geese and released into the water in their waste.

Canada Geese spend a lot of time on land, and lakeside lawns create the kind of habitat geese love, with easy access to water, open sightlines to see predators, and good grazing on the short grass.

To keep geese off your property, the trick is to obstruct the shoreline. One solution is just do less, stop mowing the grass along the shoreline and let it naturalize.  Leave a path for your access that can be blocked off with rope, plastic fencing or some other barrier that can be moved and put back.

Longer grass acts as a natural barrier, and is not as palatable to the geese. To speed it up, you can plant tall coarse grasses, shrubs and wildflowers. 

Naturalization is also good for the entire lake ecosystem - a buffer of natural plants controls erosion, soaks up run-off into the lake, filters out excess nutrients, shades and cools shallow water, and  provides a habitat for a variety of wildlife. 

All this ties in with municipal standards. The  MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais stipulates that a strip of natural vegetation be preserved or revegetated within 5 metres of shoreline, but residents may maintain a clear strip up to five meters wide for access to the water.

See these links and documents below.

• How to stop geese from pooping on your shoreline

• Deter geese at your cottage using natural plants

• Canada geese on your property

• What is swimmer's itch

For more on natural shorelines, see Shorelines and a post on Natural Shorelines.