El Dorado County, CA Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

68, Canada Goose Breeding Areas, was adopted specifically to protect nesting grounds at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe. 010 states the chapter's purpose is to safeguard the breeding grounds of the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), commonly known as honkers, along with its Moffitt's, Lesser, Vancouver, Dusky and Cackling subspecies, by prohibiting boating in the bay and prohibiting access to the island during the months of April and May each year. The operative closures run from April 1 through the first Friday before Memorial Day each year.

030 separately bans disturbing nesting geese anywhere in Emerald Bay at any time, by any means whatsoever, during the same period. 040, was adopted jointly with the State Department of Fish and Game and the Department of Parks and Recreation, under the special-use authority of Harbors and Navigation Code Section 660. Because Emerald Bay sits within a designated special use area under state boating law, the County's closure operates alongside, not instead of, state wildlife protections, so conduct that harms nesting geese can also implicate state Fish and Game rules on migratory birds.

The restriction is narrowly geographic: it applies only to Emerald Bay and Fannette Island, not to Canada geese elsewhere in the County, such as other Lake Tahoe shoreline, Folsom Lake or inland waterways.