Lacey Lakes As 'Pristine' As Ever

Walking along Deerhead Lake is easy these days.

Just months ago, locals would have had to take a hop, skip and a jump around geese feces. Today, the lake is as pristine as it can get, Recreation Director Jim Wioland said.

“We’ve had a pretty successful program in terms of management,” he said.

In February, the township committee . The township has since made habitat changes by covering grass, which the geese fed on, with rocks on each side of the lake.

Girl Scouts Troop 20 created educational fliers explaining why residents The fliers will be delivered to homes 500 to 1,000 feet off the waterways, he said.

But most notable is the , Wioland said.

Since March 25 nests and 117 eggs have been treated, he said. Typically one out of every two eggs becomes a goose.

“That’s 60 less geese,” he said. Only four new babies are on the lake and that’s because those eggs were too far matured for the addling process.

This season, there are 42 geese on the lake, he said, which is much less than previous years, he said. During the winter there are 100 to 200 geese. Last summer, there were more than 60.

“They’re there,” Wioland said. “We began the harassment technique. We’re annoying the heck out of them morning, noon and night. They come back.”

The township conditioned the geese to associate a whistle with a predator. Wioland will blow the whistle and the geese will fly away only to return later.

“No harassment technique works forever,” he said. “You’ve got to change it up.”

The environment is ideal for the geese, he said. But he’s not looking to eliminate all of the geese, just to stabilize the population.

The months leading up to the summer season, the beach and walkway was covered with geese feces.

“You couldn’t get into the water,” said Bud Mezera, who has been the beachfront supervisor gor more than 40 years. “This is fantastic. It’s the best it can be. This is as pristine as I’ve ever seen it over the years.”

While the lake was closed for more than 14 days last summer, the Ocean County Health Department continues to test it weekly and the numbers have been “fantastic,” Wioland said.

Between little rain and high temperatures, the lake lowered last summer, which makes the water quality deteriorate. Between that and the geese, residents would stay away from the lake, Wioland said.

“We’ve done a lot to keep the geese off the lake to bring the humans back,” he said. “We’re slowly trying to bring the lake back.”

The harassment technique worked more effectively at Lake Barnegat, Wioland said. There are only six geese left but they haven’t been seen in a week.

“This lake flows east to west so the shoreline stays immaculate,” he said.

Neighbors who do see the geese, chase them themselves, he said.

“That’s what it’s going to takes — a community effort. I think we’re on the right track,” he said.

In the future, the community may be able to get further involved with an egg and nest addling training program. Wioland already has a list of names of residents interested in helping.

As the egg and nest addling program continues, the mother geese will get frustrated that the eggs aren’t hatching and find a new place, Wioland said, leading to less babies and a decreasing number of resident geese.

Carole Reer grew up going to Lacey’s beaches but when Deerhead Lake continued to deteriorate, she moved down to Lake Barnegat, where she was sunbathing on Friday afternoon.

She and Martin Rolaf enjoy kayaking in Deerhead Lake but said they sometimes get stuck because of grass growing. They added that they believe there are many factors that contribute to the quality of the lake.

“I know they’ve done things to reduce the geese. I can’t say I’ve noticed but I’m glad they’re doing it,” she said.

With the lakes in their best condition, the Recreation Department is pushing to change the misconception of Lacey’s beaches as well as increasing beach badge sales.

“Everyone has a lot of pride in our beaches. We want people to come and swim and be a part of us,” he said.

Beach badges are $5 for the summer, which Wioland sees as a bargain.

“It makes you think twice a bout driving over the bridges,” he said.