The number of snow geese arriving in the Arctic each spring to breed has skyrocketed over the past few decades. At first, wildlife biologists saw this as an environmental crisis, pointing to marshes denuded of plants by thousands of hungry birds, and the federal government responded by loosening restrictions on goose hunting across the country — and considered culls in the birds’ Arctic breeding grounds as an option to protect ecosystems.

But how do Inuit, in whose backyard this is taking place, and for whom fresh goose eggs and meat are among the pleasures of an Arctic spring, view the situation? A recent study is bringing Inuit wildlife experts and scientists together to look for common ground on managing snow geese.

In the past, limited food in wintering grounds in the United States kept goose numbers down, says biologist Vicky Johnston of Environment Canada (which initiated the undertaking), but extensive mechanized agriculture changed that. “Those huge combines leave behind all sorts of grain and oats, which attract the geese. They get super fat now in the winter, and they’re in excellent condition when they migrate north. That has been the biggest contributor to the exploding populations.”

The snow goose study, which is supported in part by Polar Knowledge Canada and led by the Kivalliq Wildlife Board (an Inuit organization that manages hunting, trapping and fishing in central Nunavut), asked experts in Coral Harbour and Arviat, on the north and west coasts of Hudson Bay, to share their generations of knowledge about geese and their views on what should be done. “The community had concerns about controlling the population,” says Ron Ningeongan, community liaison officer for the Kivalliq Inuit Association in Coral Harbour, “and Inuit snow goose knowledge had never been recorded. People wanted to pass on what they knew.”