An Interview with Delta Waterfowl

John Arman, Fishing Buddy Outdoors Pro Staffer, recently had the opportunity to sit down with Rob Olson of Delta Waterfowl; Bismarck, North Dakota. Many outdoors people spend countless hours afield in search of waterfowl but few of those die hard duck hunters understand the importance of organizations such as Delta Waterfowl and the impact that they have with our duck populations and habitat. We hope that the content within this interview will help waterfowl enthusiasts and other waterfowl/wildlife enthusiasts to better understand the roles that these organizations play in our outdoors.

FBO: What is Delta Waterfowl's mission statement?

Delta: Delta's mission is to contribute to people, knowledge and solutions to achieve two things; attain a waterfowl population and second, to secure our waterfowl hunting heritage. We want to work hard for ducks and duck hunting. Deltas perfect world would be... an abundant waterfowl resource and the ability to hunt them.

FBO: Is there a difference between Delta and Ducks Unlimited?

Delta: From the very beginning of time that our two organizations began we partnered our research and we shared information back and forth. DU is more of the habitat managers of the continentals in conjunction with local services in the states. Our research and information is stuff that can help DU be successful. A lot of the people that work for DU are trained at Delta. We are often called the University of Ducks. Every summer we have about thirty graduate students come from all over the continent, mainly to the prairies to do research. There they train as biologists and go on to work for organizations like DU.

FBO: What is the outlook for the 2002 waterfowl season?

Delta: The Canadian duck breeding areas are seeing the driest conditions since the 1960's. There have been record droughts in Canada this past year and a steady decrease in duck numbers the last few years. The positive side to this is ND has water and we have had a good breeding season and Dakota hunters can look forward to a good season.

FBO: What are some of Delta's current projects?

Delta: First is the Student Research Program during the summers that I previously mentioned. Second, more on the duck side is the Adopt a Pothole Program; this is where a hunter can adopt a pothole. Hunters send in donations to Delta. We then take that money and go to a farmer and try to discourage him from draining the pothole. This is a very popular program because we hook the hunter up directly with the farmer. It is unique in the fact that the hunter is able to talk to and build a relationship with the farmer.

Thirdly, we have a predator program which is a big project for us. We have four sites which are about thirty-six square miles located in the Devils Lake wetland management district. This is where we trap and study predator control. We have found that through trapping a productive area we can have a big impact on the nesting success. Through trapping we can take an area with a 15 percent success rate up to about 35-40 percent. In duck language that means a growth in population. Anything above 15 percent equals growth and anything below 15 percent equals a decrease in duck numbers. We are looking at expanding into the southern part of ND next year.

We also have our Hen House Project where our Delta students have come up with and designed the horizontal hen houses for nesting ducks. They have been working on them for the past ten years and would like to put out even more in the future.

Our other big program that we are very excited about is the Youth Waterfowling Program. We have several going in the southern states and we are trying to learn how to do it right. Our plans are simple; we want to take them hunting, do it safely, mentor them and show them how to do it right. Our goal is to make it a life long sport. On the other side we want to get them involved with putting up hen structures in the winter so they can see the full circle of life. We all know that hunters have always been the best people in our society about putting back more than they take. This is your legacy as a hunter. Teach them that we not only take from nature but we help build and replenish it. We want to take them from harvesting the bird to cleaning and cooking the bird to replenishing the birds themselves and there habitat.

We want them (young duck hunters) to make the connection between all of this and we feel this youth program will be a real big success.

FBO: What is the number one thing that effects the duck population?

Delta: Well....there are a couple of things that go hand in hand. First, predator populations have changed. There are fewer large predators and a lot more smaller predators such as fox, raccoon, and skunks which are devastating on the nesting ducks. Along with that the lack of nesting cover makes for easy pickings for these predators.

In the 1930's nesting success rates were 30 - 40 percent and today it's often less than 15 percent. Ducks must have around 15 percent nesting success just to hold there own and anything above 15 percent increases the population and anything below 15 percent decreases the duck population. In the 1990's we did pretty good but we had the best habitat conditions since they started keeping records. Long term productivity has gone down!

FBO: What is the solution?

Delta: The best solution is to have more habitat, and there are a lot of organizations working toward this; Delta, DU, and your local and federal wildlife services. The problem is that there are major portions of the breeding grounds here in the Dakotas where we can't get enough habitat. The problem is we need 30 - 40 percent of the habitat back into grass in order to get the success rate above that 15 percent.

FBO: What do we need to do to be pro active for hunting?

FBO: What do we need to do to be pro active for hunting?

Delta: We need to be active with our youth since they are the future of hunting but we also must work on the advocacy side. Without the advocacy side kids may not have the chance in the future to experience this heritage. That means we as hunters, trappers, ranchers, farmers, fishermen, and all sportsmen and women must band together and support our hunting heritage. Over 90 percent of all ducks are raised on private land. The farmers and ranchers are our friends and without them we have nothing.

FBO: How does one become a member of Delta?

Delta: We have only just recently established a membership program within the past three years. Our membership is growing at a rate of 40 percent increase per year. There are a lot of people in ND that don't even no we are here. The office located in Bismarck, ND is the home office within the United States...in a sense we are a North Dakota organization. It has been said that we are the best kept secret in Waterfowl.

We have a fundraising sporting clay event each year and next year we will be having a spring banquet. Deltas banquets are unique in that we have a power point presentation and we are not only trying to raise money but we are also trying to educate and inform people about waterfowl and Deltas role. We also try to encourage the dinner organization to donate a portion of their proceeds. We are also encouraging the local chapter to take some of the money.

FBO: Who do we contact to become an active member?

Delta: You can contact our home office located in Bismarck, North Dakota at 701-258-5329. The basic membership is $25.00 per year and included with your membership is a quarterly magazine. The magazine is a great source of information and we also have a web site www.deltawaterfowl.org for those that would like to find out more about Delta Waterfowl.