You do not have to go on a nature hike to see the huge flocks of resident Canada geese that have made themselves at home on Long Island's parks, school playing fields, waterfront homes and golf courses. The geese, beautiful and majestic at a distance are not quite so pretty to those who have to deal with them up close and personal. Mention geese to anyone who manages grounds and you may hear comments unfit for publication in this newspaper.

Canada geese mate for life, can live for 20 years, can hatch up to 8 goslings a year and do not have any natural predators as adults. Their population is growing geometrically. One pair of Canada geese and their progeny can produce up to 250,000 geese over their breeding lifetime. Endangered they're not.

Last year Ruth Rosenstein, Robin Gordon and this reporter took the first step in becoming trained under the Geese Peace program sponsored by the Town of North Hempstead to join the efforts to limit the population explosion. Geese Peace, a program based in Virginia, has been approved by the Humane Society and PETA as a humane approach to managing the growing geese colonies.

Geese begin nesting in the next few weeks. During this small window of opportunity, Geese Peace volunteers visit nesting pairs and distract the gander and goose, gently, but firmly with an open, flat-ended umbrella. According to the scientists, the pair thinks that the open umbrella is a bigger bird's wing. Meanwhile, another volunteer checks the nest to see if the eggs are viable yet or not. Equipped with a bucket of water, the addler places an egg in the water. If the egg sinks, it means that the egg is still at the yolk and egg white stage and may be oiled. If the egg floats, it means that a gosling is forming. In that case, the egg is returned to the nest and allowed to continue to develop. The volunteers mark the nest with a flag signaling other volunteers to leave the pair alone.

Oiling an egg prevents the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide through the permeable barrier of the eggshell. The geese continue to sit on the nest until the nesting season ends and the molting season begins. If the eggs were removed or broken, the female would simply lay another clutch. Therefore, the Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that this process is effective in keeping the population at bay.

Volunteers, certified under the Geese Peace program may, with the permission of homeowners or villages, perform this service for free. You are asked to sign a permission form that protects you and the volunteers from liability. If you believe that you have a nesting pair on your property, you may reach us by calling the Great Neck Record office number at 482-4490, by faxing a message to 482-4491, or emailing us at greatneckrecord@verizon.net. Put Geese Peace in your subject line.

Do not procrastinate on this. Last year we visited a site the same week we got the call, but the goslings had already hatched. Ah, the ones that got away.