Rapid City must ban residents from feeding geese and ducks in town if it wants the state's permission to kill waterfowl to control overpopulation.

"It doesn't make sense to attract birds in and then ask to kill them," Art Smith told the city's Legal & Finance Committee on Wednesday. Smith is administrator of the state's wildlife damage management program. "That's where it starts and ends with me. You create a problem and, at the same time, you want to kill to solve that problem."

The city has been struggling with overpopulation at places like Canyon Lake Park for years and approved a Waterfowl Management Plan this spring that suggested a feeding ban and harvesting birds. Smith said both would be necessary to reach ideal population numbers, but state Game, Fish & Parks will not issue a kill permit without a feeding ban on the books.

Aldermen, though, responded with the same concerns that have bogged down the proposed feeding ban for months -- the fairness of fining residents for an activity that is a family pastime for many.

"The state's forcing the city's hand," Alderman Ron Weifenbach said. "The people in the community, at least the people in my ward, don't want this to happen. It doesn't make sense to put in an ordinance that we're not going to enforce."

But John Kanta, regional wildlife manager in Rapid City, said officers could enforce the rules by issuing warnings.

"We don't want these people to be fined $500 or $50 or $25. What we're doing is sending a message. Education has to be the top priority in this plan," Kanta said. "This city ordinance is nothing more than our education effort to let people know it's not a good idea to feed any wild animals."

Jim Good, chairman of the city's Urban Wildlife Committee, said many residents don't understand how unhealthy human food is for waterfowl.

"We want to keep these birds as wild as possible. With feeding, they get acclimated to people quite a bit. We want to stop that," Good said. "Bread, old hot dog buns, it's really not a good way to feed these birds. They don't provide nutritional food. Waterfowl, when left to forage for themselves, will make much better choices for their food."

The goose and duck population has exploded in recent years, Good said. In December 2007, counters spotted 1,435 Canada geese and 1,195 mallard ducks at Canyon Lake, up from 439 and 560, respectively, in 2003.

Alderman Ron Kroeger said the city should limit the number of geese and ducks congregating at city parks. But he thought the feeding ban could achieve the same effect without a fine. The current version of the ordinance sets fines at $25 for the first year, $50 for the second and up to $500 in subsequent years.

"If we put an ordinance into effect that says it's against the law to feed the ducks and geese, the one issue I have is a $25 fine. Having a little three-year-old out there feeding a goose and we slap them with a $25 fine, that's an issue," Kroeger said. "Many people, because it's against the law, aren't going to feed."

But City Attorney Jason Green said if the council does not set a fine, city ordinance would have it default to $500.

Weifenbach and Alderwoman Deb Hadcock said if the city provided approved waterfowl food, both birds and residents could be happy.

"Loving the birds to death is what they're doing," Weifenbach said.

Instead, Kanta said the city should be focusing on creating alternative activities for families at Canyon Lake.

"This has been happening for years in Rapid City. It's a great family pastime," Kanta said. "What I suggest is we come up with other things to do at Canyon Lake instead of feeding."

Contact Emilie Rusch at 394-8453 or emilie.rusch@rapidcityjournal.com