DENVER (KDVR) — On its first day over Colorado Boulevard, Denver Parks and Recreation calls the new billboards in Denver a waste of money.

“We have no plans to cull geese in 2021,” said Scott Gilmore with Denver Parks and Rec. “They should have saved their money.”

On Monday, two wildlife conservative groups launched the billboard campaign to draw awareness of a permit allowing the killing of Canada geese.

Gilmore said Monday efforts to reduce geese population has been a decade-long endeavor. In 2019, the city turned to culling geese, killing more than 1,600 birds. In 2020, only 600 geese were slaughtered. While geese continue to flock to city parks year-round, the department said it will resort to non-lethal population control methods, such as egg oiling, habitat modification and hazing.

“There are millions of taxpayer dollars across the country that are being spent every year to kill and slaughter geese through these roundups,” said Lisa Levinson, with “In Defense of Animals.”

“This practice doesn’t work. Many communities have been doing it for decades, and if you keep having to do it every year, it really doesn’t work,” said Levinson.

Carole Woodall, with Canada Geese Protection Colorado, said she became a goose advocate after the 2019 slaughter of Denver geese.

“The public was not informed in a meaningful way in 2019. We were unaware about what was going to happen,” said Woodall. “The billboard campaign is trying to provide an avenue and an opportunity for the public to be engaged in what is a very complicated issue.”

The two billboards read, “Dear USDA, Stop Killing Our Wildlife,” and “Lake Watch, Protect Our Geese.” They will appear at the southeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Mexico starting Monday and will stay up until Thursday.

In response to the billboards, Gilmore tells FOX31 he encouraged the groups to develop a proposal, establishing a task force to offer more solutions for widespread park management, beyond just geese control.

“I’m not going to put together a group that’s just focused on one topic,” said Gilmore, “There’s all types of species we need to look at to make sure the parks are good for them, and for everybody that visits.”