Ludlow's West Hill Recreation Area has a problem. In fact, one might say the town recreation committee is on a wild goose chase. It's searching for ways to get a gaggle of unwelcome geese to leave the recreation area and find another home.
The town has erected a fence around the edge of the water in the hope that preventing the geese from walking between the land and water will drive them elsewhere. If that doesn't work, the town may abandon the recreation area altogether. At a select board meeting on Monday, Municipal Manager Frank Heald said he would like to gather public input on the issue. The meeting minutes state of Heald:
He really wants to know what the community wants to do. People have not been skating there, don’t picnic there and don’t play basketball. He would like to move the basketball hoops to a place where they would get more use.
Members of the select board had varying thoughts on the issue:
Brett Sanderson noted that he saw people camping there today and the gates were open. Bruce Schmidt said that people are telling us that it doesn’t look good up there. He agrees that they need to get public input. Doug Ficken said that he was told only about a week ago that people want to use it, but want to get rid of the geese. Bruce Schmidt said that he thinks the fence solved that problem at Plymouth Park, but you really need to be diligent about it.
Only time will tell if the fence will deter the geese from nesting at West Hill Recreation Area, or if it will simply become a park that's for the birds.
