Ocean Beach seems to be a gophers’ paradise. Large numbers of the critters are reportedly destroying neighborhood parks, racking up a growing tab with the city. It’s an ongoing fight for the city, and for the contractors in charge of pest control on city properties. The challenge, of course, is to safely eliminate the rodents without endangering local wildlife, domestic animals and the public. Steve Pauly, acting district manager for the city’s Park and Recreation Department, said one reason for attractiveness to gophers could be the location near the water, in combination with the climate and the mineral-rich soil. Others have their opinions, too. Ocean Beach resident Jim Hertzman, who is a daily visitor to Dusty Rhodes Park and Robb Field Park, believes the only reason the gophers are so comfortable in the area is the complete lack of natural predators. “The ecosystem is in total imbalance around here,” Hertzman said, who walks his dogs daily at the local parks. “Since we don’t have foxes, coyotes or wolfs here, the gophers can breed and destroy freely. Even birds of prey, such as falcons, hawks, etc., are pretty rare here.” Pauly, who oversees the two parks, said the population of gophers at Dusty Rhodes and Robb Field is overwhelmingly higher than at other parks, despite the city’s efforts to bring the annoying digger under control. “We [park officials and the pest-control contractor] have the feeling that the gophers are migrating between the two parks,” he said. Pauly said he hasn’t actually seen gophers crossing between the parks, considering the busy Sunset Cliffs Boulevard that separates the parks from each other. “We assume, due to the location of the mounts on both sides, and the much, much deeper tunnel systems at the edges of both parks — as well as both right-of-way areas off Sunset Cliffs Boulevard — that the gophers might actually dig under Sunset Cliffs Blvd in order to freely travel between both parks at little to no risk to [motorists].” Clay Bingham, director of community parks for the city, agreed. “Yes, we think that the gophers are working outward from the middle of the field, digging deeper at the ends of the parks adjacent to Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. Yet, we don’t know for sure, as we have not physically witnessed such action. Those little guys pose a severe threat to our trees and shrubs, let alone the cost of having to continuously replace dead and damaged greenery. “We are highly concerned about the safety of our patrons,” he said. “We make an effort to keep the fields safe for the public. We don’t want anybody to break ankles or legs. We care about all users of the parks, humans or animals.” Bingham said the city is looking into alternatives to more conventional methods like trapping and poisons, which could compromise the quality of the ecosystem. “We’d like to eradicate the gophers without poisons of any type, since we are also highly concerned about the safety of our wildlife and that of the parks’ patrons,” he said. “So far, we came up with two alternatives: we’ve been trying traps at Balboa Park for a couple of years. The setback here is that it is very labor intensive.” Most rodents, according to experts, learn to avoid traps over time. “Another alternative we have been trying out at Robb Field for the past few weeks is the ‘Burrow Blaster,’ which showed great success at Black Mountain Community Park,” said Bingham. “This particular gopher-eliminating method is not a poison. There is absolutely no safety concern for the public. We inject propane into the burrows and ignite the injected propane. The blow extinguishes the gopher with a severe concussion. We believe this method could be the safest for the public, other wildlife and domestic animals, which is our No. 1 priority.” Bingham said that, contrary to rumor, city officials had not already been planning to relocate two families of white barn owls to local parks as a means of gopher population control. Bingham said he only learned of the rumor during a recent Ocean Beach Recreation Council and planning group meeting. “That was all news to me, and I should know,” he said. Bingham said the Recreation Council may have taken on to the idea from previous suggestions, and not only liked it, but seemed willing to commit money to make it happen. “We now have our staff biologist from the open-space division researching ways and options to possibly stabilize the idea of putting up owl nesting boxes to attract the white barn owls,” he said.”This requires correct research and a lot of time, since several questions have to be answered and weighed against other methods.” Bingham said the behavior of the owls needs to be researched to determine if and how the owls could be moved without harming the birds or upsetting the ecosystem of the area from which the owls might be moved. “We need to find out if the species is a protected species, and if we have to look into adding other animals to the area,” Bingham said. “We also want to make sure residents won’t get disturbed. Last, but not least, we need to find out the needs of the owls as far as ‘how-to’ and where to install owl boxes to provide proper living quarters for the owls.”