WHITE  LAKE  — Concern rose last Friday following the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) controversial wildlife management practice of removing geese from the shores of White Lake.

Bethel Town Supervisor, Daniel Sturm, voiced his displeasure with the USDA’s handling of the matter, citing in particular their lack of interaction with the town and its citizens.

Sturm talked to the Democrat after a local citizen saw USDA employees putting geese into cages on their trucks on Friday morning.

 “As far as I know, they do have a USDA permit to do that,” Sturm noted. “They either did it last year or the year before.”

The Democrat had previously reported that the first removal had occurred between June 15 and July 4 of 2023.

Sturm pointed out that although the USDA’s activities are legal, many locals are dissatisfied with the procedure, especially with the choice to eradicate the geese.

“There’s a lot of people in the community that are not happy about it,” Sturm stated. “It’s a split community on the issue, but the fact that they come and they load the geese…I believe they will be eliminated, and I think they kill the geese, as far as I know.”

Sturm’s biggest worry lies in his belief on the USDA and the Town’s lack of communication. He was upset that the town had not been informed by the USDA before Friday’s operation.

“The least the USDA could do would be to notify the town so we could notify our residents that this is taking place,” Sturm stated. “[But] they feel that they don’t need to and they have not done that, either this time or last time.”

The USDA’s goose removal is based on petitions from homeowners, but Sturm wonders whether the process was fully transparent.

“They get a certain amount of homeowners on the lake to apply to sign a petition to have this done, and apparently they got enough signatures – whatever means they use to get those signatures – but they did and that’s what they did,” Sturm explained.

While some residents support the USDA’s actions, particularly those concerned about potential property damage, many feel blindsided by the operation. Sturm emphasized the need for more cooperation and transparency in future wildlife management efforts.

“If anything, we should be able to work together,” Sturm said. “If there’s a problem with geese, some kind of damage the geese do, we should be able to work together between the DEC, the Town, the people in the Town, and the USDA to resolve the issue and try to make it better instead of what they’ve chosen to do here.”

The USDA could not be reached for comment by presstime.