The Highland Lake resident Canada geese have returned to their annual breeding grounds and nesting sites in the riparian areas around the lake. They will lay clutches of 6–10 eggs over the course of a week. After a 28-day incubation, goslings will hatch during May and mature by foraging in flocks where there are open grassy areas throughout the summer and into September.

There are two distinctly different behaviors of Canada geese. The Resident Canada Goose does not migrate. It nests and lives in the lower 48 states, as opposed to the Canada Goose that moves between overwintering grounds and nesting sites in Canada. Geese are protected under The Migratory Treaty Act of 1918.

The Town Selectboard is again in favor of implementing the same goose scare tactics at the Town Beach and Chaffee Park as last summer. The results were entirely successful. Because there were no geese there, people were there, which also kept the geese away. Some landowners reported fewer populations and less lawn foraging.

By making geese nesting areas inhospitable for raising young in April, parents will move on in search of safer places, which in turn helps to reduce the goose population on Highland Lake.
The U.S. Humane Society, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, the USDA Wildlife Services, and New Hampshire Fish & Game all agree on the same ways to manage nuisance geese. 

More than one tactic is recommended.
● Cease feeding
● Scare with noise, predator decoys, and scare-eye balloons
● Hang shiny Mylar tape and wind whirligigs
● Erect short fencing along the water’s edge
● Plant vegetative barriers along the water’s edge