So What's Delta Waterfowl All About?

Delta Waterfowl is a great organization for ducks, and a great organization for duck hunters. We at Three Rivers Duck Club have been big supporters of their work for years.

Speaking of which, I would urge anyone reading this, if you have an interest in the health of duck populations in North America... Become a Delta Waterfowl Member, and then join forces with the other waterfowlers in your neck of the woods at your local Delta Waterfowl organization!

There are lots of reasons to become a DW member, and one of my favorites is getting access to their magazine, which features great writing as well as photos by the greatest waterfowl photographer ever, Fred Greenslade.

Our Memphis Chapter has a great fund-raising banquet each year that features lots of fun for duck hunters! Our annual Live Auction, for instance, has featured AMAZING loot for years! Our banquet also features a raffle with dozens of items that anyone can win!

That said, Delta is DOING SO MANY things to benefit duck populations and hunters, it's hard to sum it up briefly. So, here's their not-so-brief summary of what they've been up to lately, in their own words, from their 2014 document called:

"Ducks Today, Ducks Tomorrow"

Greetings from the Breeding Grounds!
As you are reading this, the breeding season is well under way. Similar to last year, winter’s grip dragged further into the spring than most would like. While slightly delaying the very earliest pintail and mallard nests, the cool wet spring did improve wetland conditions across many areas of the prairies which should more than offset the slight delay in nesting effort. Wet conditions in many areas of the breeding grounds this spring should translate into well above average pond counts again this year and the temporary and seasonal wetlands that are the foundation of North American duck production, should be in good supply.

This bodes well for another year of high breeding duck populations and good duck production.

As has been the case for many years, we take this time in the heart of the breeding season to brief you on the program activities underway at Delta Waterfowl. As you have seen the most recent summary of Delta Waterfowl’s efforts for duck hunters in the Duck Hunters Today/Tomorrow Report, this report will focus on Delta Waterfowl’s work for ducks and duck habitat. This Ducks Today and Ducks Tomorrow report will summarize our efforts to sustain abundant fall flights today and well into the future.

Ducks Today and Ducks Tomorrow
Delta Waterfowl has begun a new strategic planning process to envision how Delta Waterfowl can deal with the ongoing challenges facing ducks and duck habitat. This process, which is still underway, noted that the needs of ducks and duck hunters exist both in the short term and the long term. Annual duck production and the desire for duck hunters to impact production today is a worthy goal, as are efforts to secure the habitat base upon which ducks will depend far into the future. Delta orients its programs based on these two critical needs, recognizing that both the short term and long term objectives are both integral to sustaining abundant fall flights of ducks today and into the future.

Ducks Today
Delta Waterfowl acknowledges and embraces the desire of duck hunters to invest in duck production tools that can aid duck production today. This is a historic value passed on by Delta’s founder, James Ford Bell, who struck out with the ambitious plan to put two ducks on the wing for every duck he and his friends shot on the historic Delta Marsh. This simple notion, borne by a legendary conservationist, still resonates today for hunters who want to invest in tools that can generate a return in ducks produced.

Waterfowl research has documented that low hatching rates of duck nests (nest success) is the key factor limiting duck production across many areas of the breeding grounds. The fragmented nesting habitat and abundant predators found in most areas of the prairies means that increasing nest success can be a daunting challenge. Yet, research initiated by Delta researchers in the early 1990’s sought to test new approaches to deal with low duck production and to increase nest success and local duck production. These tools, predator management and Hen Houses, have been well tested, refined and have consistently proven to significantly improve hatching rates and ultimately duck production.

Predator Management
Delta Waterfowl’s research on predator management was prioritized recognizing that low hatching rates were suppressing fall flights and most tools were ineffective, too costly or difficult to deploy to the scale necessary to increase duck production consistently. Starting in 1994, Delta has researched predator management at a variety of scales and across the key duck production landscapes of North Dakota, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and South Dakota.

In 2014, Delta Waterfowl has launched a new evaluation of predator management in the parklands of Saskatchewan to test how predator management can affect both upland (mallards, pintail, teal, gadwall) and overwater (canvasbacks and redheads) nest success and brood abundance. Research has confirmed that nest success in the parklands has been well documented to be dismally low. The most recent work conducted by Delta in the parklands documented nest success on non-managed sites between 2010-2013 averaged 2.1%, far below the levels needed to sustain local duck populations. This demonstrates the critical need of new tools like predator management to aid ailing duck production in this key portion of the duck factory. In all, 3 sites will be trapped. 2014 is the first year of this 3 year evaluation.

In North Dakota, where Delta Waterfowl has the greatest experience in evaluating and deploying predator management, the program has demonstrated long term success at increasing nest success. The results from the most recent period of evaluation showed nest success at 34.3% on trapped sites in comparison with 12.2% on unmanaged areas-a nearly three-fold increase. In 2014, trappers are managing predators on 4 sites with a focus on areas of high breeding duck density and limited nesting cover.

With the available nesting cover in steep decline as a result of waning participation in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), researchers have noted that the remaining limited nesting cover is attracting staggering numbers of nesting hens. This map of nesting cover near Cando, North Dakota hosted 492 nests in one 320 acre CRP field. We believe that with continued declining available nesting cover, predator management will be a critically important duck production tool for the foreseeable future.

Hen Houses
When it comes to raising wild mallards, no tool can match the biological and cost effectiveness of Hen Houses. Like predator management, the development of Hen Houses was borne of the reality of low hatching rates and the desire for new tools to positively impact duck production. These artificial nesting structures provide a safe nest site for mallard hens and have consistently exceptional use rates (60-80%) and very high nest success (65-80%) when targeted to the most suitable habitat.

Delta delivers Hen Houses in 100 structure “supersites” in locales where mallard breeding densities are high and where duck production is documented to be low. Areas of the parklands and those areas where CRP acres have been lost are key targets for Hen Houses. In all, Delta Waterfowl will have 8,218 Hen Houses deployed via supersites across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota and Ontario this year in addition to 2,500 structures resulting from partnerships.

Ducks Tomorrow
In order to ensure abundant ducks into the future, an ample habitat base of wetlands and upland nesting cover is needed. At Delta Waterfowl we believe the most effective way to ensure that wetlands and nesting cover are available to ducks across the whole of the landscape is through conservation policy work.

Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS)
In Canada, Delta staff continues to pursue the Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) model as a way to work with farmers and ranchers to conserve and enhance habitat on their working lands. ALUS is organized around the simple principle that habitat conservation and restoration actions are best achieved through voluntary, incentive based programs in partnerships with the private farmers, ranchers and landowners whom control well over 90% of the breeding habitat and therefore can have huge impact on habitat at a grand scale. Delta’s working relationships with farming and ranching groups, local and provincial governments and partnering conservation groups has elevated ALUS from a concept to a new model for conservation across Canada.

The past year was one of great success, both within provincial pilot projects and national policy development. Below is a summary of progress on ALUS across Canada:

National
On May 16, 2014 Canadian Prime Minister Mr. Stephen Harper announced the Government of Canada’s new National Conservation Plan which will chart the course for major investments in conservation programs including $250 million over the next five years. From the podium, the Prime Minister and Minister of Environment made commitments to investing $50 million on wetlands conservation and $50 million to support voluntary programming to conserve habitat on private lands. The leaders also emphasized the need for community engagement and specifically acknowledged the ALUS principles as key to achieving real conservation outcomes. Delta Senior Vice President was in attendance at the announcement and will be meeting with Environment Canada staff to position ALUS to assist the government in their lofty conservation goals.

Alberta
ALUS is now operating in 3 different rural counties across Alberta. The most notable developments in Alberta include ALUS communities being recognized to deliver wetland mitigation and restoration under provincial law. Additionally, ALUS is being considered as a primary mechanism to restore and conserve wetlands and nesting cover under Alberta’s long existing carbon fund.

Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan ALUS pilot project enters its third year in four rural municipalities near Regina. ALUS continues to add new demonstration farms and acres enrolled in the pilot project and is being delivered in close coordination with the Canadian federal agricultural program growing forward.

Manitoba
ALUS will return to its birthplace in Manitoba in 2014. A new pilot project was announced in mid-May to take place in Manitoba’s pothole country near Minnedosa as well as in the watershed surrounding Whitewater Lake. Both of these landscapes are historically important breeding efforts but have most recently been plagued by severe wetland drainage. Delta, in close coordination with farming groups and local communities, will establish the project this year.

Ontario
ALUS has a broad footprint across southern Ontario,
a key breeding ground for ducks in both the Atlantic Flyway and those areas near the Great Lakes. In all, five communities are involved in ALUS. In the province, the restoration and creation of wetlands and restoration of native upland nesting cover are key priorities. The province is also now considering ALUS as a means to mitigate development effects related to the Species at Risk Act (the Canadian equivalent of the Endangered Species Act) to establish native grass nesting cover for sensitive species which would be a significant policy boost to ALUS and significantly increasing the investment in habitat.

Reaching out to North Dakota Farmers
Emulating the strategies that have proven effective in Canada in engaging farmers and ranchers in a conservation dialog, Delta staff in North Dakota has initiated the North Dakota Agriculture/Conservation Roundtable. Last summer, Delta staff began to host regular meetings with key farm, ranch and rural community leaders to discuss ways in which agriculture and conservation can coexist. We are hopeful that this process of building relationships and trust will result in new programs and policies that can conserve and enhance habitat in a true partnership with the private landowners that own and control the fortune of North American ducks. It is our hope that this new coalition can work together to develop new conservation solutions in the short term and larger scale program developments for inclusion in the 2019 Farm Bill.

Research
Delta Waterfowl’s longstanding legacy of scientific research and discovery is an important component of addressing key information needs across the whole of our program efforts. Our research program continues to provide valuable insights into developing and refining duck production tools, exploring factors limiting duck populations and also can provide valuable insights on the decisions farmers and ranchers make that affect habitat and even exploring our understanding of harvest regulations and factors influencing hunter recruitment. Here is the 2014 research roster.

A Mechanism to Establish Nesting Cover in California
Growing demand for water, coupled with drought conditions have California residents, farmers and policy makers grappling with the means to supply diverse stakeholders with water. While this water crisis has garnered national attention in recent months, what has gone largely unreported is the long term decline of mallards breeding in the State. Demand for water by urban and non-agricultural users may provide a unique mechanism to compensate Central Valley rice producers to establish nesting cover for breeding ducks. Anecdotal observation suggests that these small idled tracts can attract extremely high densities of breeding mallards when a seasonal cover crop is employed. Delta is in the process of initiating a pilot project and evaluation; partnering with the California Waterfowl Association, UC-Davis and California Department of Water Resources to measure the duck response and other environmental and agronomic benefits that can be realized by the establishment of cover crops.

Evaluation of Farmer’s Attitudes Towards the Conservation Reserve Program
With the signing on the recent Farm Bill, CRP acres continue to decline far below their peak effect on the landscape in the mid 2000’s. Yet, in an effort to properly develop support for CRP in the future, it is imperative to understand how farmers and ranchers view the program and how it can be adjusted to meet the needs of operations. This work, conducted in cooperation with the agricultural faculty at North Dakota State University will survey farmers across the Prairie Pothole Region of Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota and Montana to detect differences and similarities across the whole of the key U.S. breeding grounds.

Wood Duck Breeding Ecology in Southern Ontario
Delta Waterfowl is partnering with Long Point Waterfowl and Western University Master’s candidate Matt Dyson as he evaluates wood duck breeding ecology in southern Ontario. While wood ducks are amongst the most studied of North American waterfowl, little is known about habitat use and factors influencing production of wood ducks in this region. Matt will have a large sample of radio marked birds to assess movements, habitat use and production.
This work will provide a better understanding into what is limiting wood duck populations in the region and describe management actions to address limiting factors.

Managing Phragmites in the Great Salt Lake
Like elsewhere, phragmites have overtaken large expanses of the Great Salt Lake marshes, amongst the most important wetland habitats in the intermountain west. As phragmites expansion has occurred, plant diversity and wetland function has eroded with negative consequences for waterfowl that utilize the marshes. Delta is partnering with a team of graduate student researchers from Utah State University to conduct a range and mix of treatments to manage phragmites and re-establish more desirable wetland plants into these wetland systems.

Harvest and Wood Ducks - A Controlled Experiment
Measuring the effect of hunting harvest on duck populations is a daunting task because of changing habitat, immigration and emigration and the lack of precise data inputs. Delta is a partner in a project led by Dr. Chris Nikolai where wood duck populations are closely monitored and hunting regulations are experimentally manipulated to document the effects. Chris has a marked sample of virtually all the local wood ducks which provides ample opportunity to re-capture or re-sight and track individual ducks throughout the year.

Hunter Recruitment and Retention in Alberta
Delta is initiating research in 2014 in partnership with the University of Alberta to determine what role a variety of hunting regulations have on hunter recruitment and retention. This human dimension work builds on recent Delta research of understanding what hunters perceive as impediments. Additionally, this work can help aid in designing hunter recruitment programs.