Q: Do you know an organic, low-maintenance, non-violent way to keep Canada geese and mallards off nearby Lawns?

A: (Source: LessLawn.com) "Canada geese love lawns that go right down to the water's edge. They like to feed on the new grass shoots, and they don't like to venture far from the water. If lawns on your site extend clear to the water, you've created prime goose habitat. To discourage the geese from hanging around on the lawns (and sidewalks -- yuck!), you'll need to change the shoreline landscaping.

A useful but not overwhelming manual called Lakescaping for Wildlife and Water Quality explains that "Nuisance animals, like Canada geese and mallards, will not usually cross a buffer zone to a lawn because they are reluctant to walk through tall grass that provides good camouflage for predators."

What kind of buffer zone are they talking about? A boundary of native wildflowers, grasses and sedges, shrubs, and trees that extends along the water's edge, separating it from the lawn or path.

To be effective at keeping birds in the water, the buffer zone should extend 25 to 100 feet out from the shore, and also up to 25 feet into the water. It will therefore include land plants, emergent plants that grow in the shallow water along the shore, and aquatic plants that are mainly submerged or float in the water.

In addition to separating the wildlife area from the human area, a buffer of natural vegetation has a number of benefits.

• It will improve water quality by
  • filtering runoff that may contain lawn chemicals,
  • anchoring shoreline soil and preventing its erosion into the water, and
  • keeping lake-floor sediments on the lake floor.
  
  
• It will reduce maintenance of the grounds, since once established, the natural vegetation will require no fertilizers or herbicides, no watering, little weeding or trimming, and occasional, if any, mowing.
  
  
• Unlike lawn, it will provide visual interest and wildlife habitat year-round.