Letter sent to DU a couple years ago:
“We’ve lost our shorelines” an old North Dakota duck hunter remarked to me about thirty years ago. Another, an airlines pilot, claimed there was “no better duck hunting than in those hard-bottomed pasture sloughs.” I agreed, having hunted ducks on the prairies since 1948 where as kids in western Minnesota, we also shot most of our ducks in pastures or hayfields along country roads and from boats in the deeper marshes. Most of those birds were locals. Now I can drive for hours in that area in midsummer and not see a brood of ducks or those of most other waterbirds. DU members well know that we, other conservation groups such as The Nature Conservancy, along with state and federal departments and agencies and even some individuals have spent a lot of money in the Prairie Pothole Region preserving and restoring wetlands and improving upland nesting habitats, yet brood production remains generally poor.
I’m like a lot of DU members that yearn to do some outdoor work to benefit our cause. We renew our memberships at annual banquets and auctions and get a chance to chat with fellow hunters about waterfowl and hunting, but, unlike our local wildlife clubs, member projects are almost unheard of, at least here in North Dakota, the heart of the U.S. portion of the Prairie Pothole Region. I would like to see DU change course a bit, by taking wetland management efforts down to the local level, and am convinced shoreline restorations would be the most beneficial projects for waterfowl and other waterbirds in the entire Region.
Why shorelines? Numbers of broods on privately-owned wetlands is often much higher, than on public waters, especially during wet years. Here in central North Dakota where I have lived for 55 years, I see most broods on private wetlands in cropfields, hayfields, and pastures, and far fewer on public land, especially seeded grasslands idled for soil conservation or wildlife production. I believe wetlands in pastures are the most productive and for good reason; they are located under conditions that most closely simulate the natural state of grasslands worldwide, ecosystems created and maintained by grazing animals and fire. These wetlands are meadows and marshes that stand alone as temporarily or seasonally flooded basins or border wetlands where water is usually present throughout the growing season.
Ecologists and botanists recognize many types of plant communities in forests, deserts, and seacoasts. These communities are relatively stable compared to those in continental climates like those of central North America. The migratory big game herds that once roamed the world’s grasslands were responding to these changes in search of food, much like breeding ducks that move to areas of the Prairie Pothole Region where water conditions are most favorable. Studies show that in this region, most ducks and other waterbirds feed in plant communities that develop in shallow sunlit waters along shorelines rather than in deeper areas or those shaded by tall vegetation. We often see this in cropland as well as grassland when basins with crop residue or even bare tilled soil flood after spring snowmelt or heavy summer rains. The main attractant for breeding birds is the invertebrate protein essential for egg production and food for their broods. Waterfowl biologists have long been aware of these habitat needs. For example, managers often clip or hay shoreline vegetation or raise water levels to inundate dry grasslands to simulate the natural conditions of grazed vegetation in shallow sunlit water.
Most of today’s hunters have never experienced the joy of bagging ducks, snipe, and rails while walking the cowpaths and shallow waters around grazed wetlands. These wet meadows and shallow marshes disappeared when the prairies were cultivated even if the basins remained undrained, the natural vegetation replaced by taller, usually introduced or hybrid plants such as cattail and and canarygrass. Willow and cottonwood germinated in many cultivated meadows and were lost for crop or hay production.
But what happened to the ducks? Hunters formed Save The Wetlands in Minnesota as farm equipment got bigger and shallow wetlands became nuisance areas, with drainage often assisted by government. I remember cleaning smelt for one of their banquets in Fergus Falls in the mid-1950's. I feel those efforts and those of DU were the beginning of the massive wetlands acquisition and easement program that has protected so many wetland basins in the Prairie Pothole Region. After this phase, emphasis began on habitat improvement. Here I believe the government agencies and DU overreacted to research that showed how attractive certain types of upland habitat are to breeding dabbling ducks. We did all we could to shade the ground. First we removed the cows and mowing machines off, then we seeded the recommended nesting cover mix, closed vehicular traffic with fences, erected our signs, and then our activities mostly ceased whle we watched most native wildlife associated with the wetlands in those protected areas disappear as the both the wetlands and seeded uplands were idled.
These wetlands, whether in discrete basins or bordering more permanent water bodies are now sorely in need management; burning and grazing are the most natural treatments and should be considered optimum when done in combination.
I believe prescribed burns should be the first step on most areas devoted to waterfowl production in the Region. Repeated burns may be required on long-idled basins where woody plants have become dominant. Burning also improves the height and density of plants in long-idled uplands, where thick layers of plant litter shade the soil. It is not a difficult task to burn many wetlands in the Region, as manmade firebreaks such as roads and cultivated land abound. This is where supervised DU volunteers could do a lot of beneficial work.
The ideal combination of a burn/graze rotation may be available in some areas of the Region where livestock raising is still important. Willing grazers may be found near the larger tracts of land devoted to waterfowl production. Large wetlands with a small amount of associated uplands could be converted to useful temporary pastures or added as units to existing pastures. Here DU volunteers could help build and maintain fences, gates, and cattle guards. The famous French marshes of the Camargue have for centuries been managed with prescribed burns and grazing by domestic animals and are now the only place in the country where some native birds still breed.
The Nature Conservancy and The Prairie Enthusiasts are two organizations that actively manage native prairie with fire and grazing. I am a member of both. In the Region, TNC in particular focuses on the aggressive use of prescribed fire on the thousands of acres it owns. The group has recently reached out to the North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition, a relatively new group of farmers and ranchers devoted to holistic land management. I would like to see DU take a similar role while providing members a chance to actively work with the waterfowl we cherish.
Sincerely,
Hal Kantrud
“We’ve lost our shorelines” an old North Dakota duck hunter remarked to me about thirty years ago. Another, an airlines pilot, claimed there was “no better duck hunting than in those hard-bottomed pasture sloughs.” I agreed, having hunted ducks on the prairies since 1948 where as kids in western Minnesota, we also shot most of our ducks in pastures or hayfields along country roads and from boats in the deeper marshes. Most of those birds were locals. Now I can drive for hours in that area in midsummer and not see a brood of ducks or those of most other waterbirds. DU members well know that we, other conservation groups such as The Nature Conservancy, along with state and federal departments and agencies and even some individuals have spent a lot of money in the Prairie Pothole Region preserving and restoring wetlands and improving upland nesting habitats, yet brood production remains generally poor.
I’m like a lot of DU members that yearn to do some outdoor work to benefit our cause. We renew our memberships at annual banquets and auctions and get a chance to chat with fellow hunters about waterfowl and hunting, but, unlike our local wildlife clubs, member projects are almost unheard of, at least here in North Dakota, the heart of the U.S. portion of the Prairie Pothole Region. I would like to see DU change course a bit, by taking wetland management efforts down to the local level, and am convinced shoreline restorations would be the most beneficial projects for waterfowl and other waterbirds in the entire Region.
Why shorelines? Numbers of broods on privately-owned wetlands is often much higher, than on public waters, especially during wet years. Here in central North Dakota where I have lived for 55 years, I see most broods on private wetlands in cropfields, hayfields, and pastures, and far fewer on public land, especially seeded grasslands idled for soil conservation or wildlife production. I believe wetlands in pastures are the most productive and for good reason; they are located under conditions that most closely simulate the natural state of grasslands worldwide, ecosystems created and maintained by grazing animals and fire. These wetlands are meadows and marshes that stand alone as temporarily or seasonally flooded basins or border wetlands where water is usually present throughout the growing season.
Ecologists and botanists recognize many types of plant communities in forests, deserts, and seacoasts. These communities are relatively stable compared to those in continental climates like those of central North America. The migratory big game herds that once roamed the world’s grasslands were responding to these changes in search of food, much like breeding ducks that move to areas of the Prairie Pothole Region where water conditions are most favorable. Studies show that in this region, most ducks and other waterbirds feed in plant communities that develop in shallow sunlit waters along shorelines rather than in deeper areas or those shaded by tall vegetation. We often see this in cropland as well as grassland when basins with crop residue or even bare tilled soil flood after spring snowmelt or heavy summer rains. The main attractant for breeding birds is the invertebrate protein essential for egg production and food for their broods. Waterfowl biologists have long been aware of these habitat needs. For example, managers often clip or hay shoreline vegetation or raise water levels to inundate dry grasslands to simulate the natural conditions of grazed vegetation in shallow sunlit water.
Most of today’s hunters have never experienced the joy of bagging ducks, snipe, and rails while walking the cowpaths and shallow waters around grazed wetlands. These wet meadows and shallow marshes disappeared when the prairies were cultivated even if the basins remained undrained, the natural vegetation replaced by taller, usually introduced or hybrid plants such as cattail and and canarygrass. Willow and cottonwood germinated in many cultivated meadows and were lost for crop or hay production.
But what happened to the ducks? Hunters formed Save The Wetlands in Minnesota as farm equipment got bigger and shallow wetlands became nuisance areas, with drainage often assisted by government. I remember cleaning smelt for one of their banquets in Fergus Falls in the mid-1950's. I feel those efforts and those of DU were the beginning of the massive wetlands acquisition and easement program that has protected so many wetland basins in the Prairie Pothole Region. After this phase, emphasis began on habitat improvement. Here I believe the government agencies and DU overreacted to research that showed how attractive certain types of upland habitat are to breeding dabbling ducks. We did all we could to shade the ground. First we removed the cows and mowing machines off, then we seeded the recommended nesting cover mix, closed vehicular traffic with fences, erected our signs, and then our activities mostly ceased whle we watched most native wildlife associated with the wetlands in those protected areas disappear as the both the wetlands and seeded uplands were idled.
These wetlands, whether in discrete basins or bordering more permanent water bodies are now sorely in need management; burning and grazing are the most natural treatments and should be considered optimum when done in combination.
I believe prescribed burns should be the first step on most areas devoted to waterfowl production in the Region. Repeated burns may be required on long-idled basins where woody plants have become dominant. Burning also improves the height and density of plants in long-idled uplands, where thick layers of plant litter shade the soil. It is not a difficult task to burn many wetlands in the Region, as manmade firebreaks such as roads and cultivated land abound. This is where supervised DU volunteers could do a lot of beneficial work.
The ideal combination of a burn/graze rotation may be available in some areas of the Region where livestock raising is still important. Willing grazers may be found near the larger tracts of land devoted to waterfowl production. Large wetlands with a small amount of associated uplands could be converted to useful temporary pastures or added as units to existing pastures. Here DU volunteers could help build and maintain fences, gates, and cattle guards. The famous French marshes of the Camargue have for centuries been managed with prescribed burns and grazing by domestic animals and are now the only place in the country where some native birds still breed.
The Nature Conservancy and The Prairie Enthusiasts are two organizations that actively manage native prairie with fire and grazing. I am a member of both. In the Region, TNC in particular focuses on the aggressive use of prescribed fire on the thousands of acres it owns. The group has recently reached out to the North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition, a relatively new group of farmers and ranchers devoted to holistic land management. I would like to see DU take a similar role while providing members a chance to actively work with the waterfowl we cherish.
Sincerely,
Hal Kantrud
