MONTPELIER — The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife says there's going to be a special snow geese hunting season this spring.

Vermont officials say the state's season is being adopted at the recommendation of federal and state wildlife scientists in response to concerns about a growing number of snow geese across North America.

Eight states in the Atlantic flyway, from North Carolina to Vermont, are planning to hold spring snow goose seasons, known formally as a “conservation order.”

The state says the populations of snow geese and similar species have grown to record levels over the past three decades.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the overabundance of certain species of geese, which nest in far northern regions of North America, is harming their fragile arctic breeding habitat.