Overview:  This subspecies of the canada goose seems to be recovering from historically low numbers.  Although most nesting sights for this goose are found on the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, Washington State contains critical habitat for migratory feeding.  In particular, the coastal portion of the Klamath ecoregion is one very important stop on this species migratory return from wintering in California back to the Aleutians.  This species was listed as Endangered in 1967 within the U.S. Department of Interior's list of native endangered species.  In 1991 it was down listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) from endangered to its current status of threatened.  The initial cause for decline of this species occurred due to introduction of the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) into nesting habitat.  In the 1950’s the USFWS began efforts in lowering fox populations and since these efforts, aleutian canada goose populations have been steadily increasing.  Recently, due to the success of these recovery efforts, this species is being considered to be delisted from the Endangered Species List.  According to the USFWS, in the mid 70s the population of this species was down to 800. Today it is estimated that the population consists of around 20,000 geese.  For more information on this delisting and other information on the aleutian canada goose, check the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s page @ http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/wlm/diversity/soc/status/cangoose/cangoose.pdf. The Alaska Division of the USFWS also has a fact sheet on this species which can be downloaded at http://www.r7.fws.gov/es/te.html.

Distribution: Although there currently is no population map for this species, its populations within Washington are seasonally found in the Klamath ecoregion of Washington.  This area provides a great feeding stop for these geese as they return from California to the Aleutian Islands for nesting season.