For the past 65 years, ever since a young Aldo Leopold graduate student named H. Albert Hochbaum arrived at the Delta Marsh in 1938, Delta Waterfowl’s mission could be summed up in a single word: Research.

Some 370 students followed in Hochbaum’s footsteps, producing a virtual library of research that has enhanced our understanding of waterfowl and waterfowl management immeasurably. Simply put, that’s what Delta did. We conducted the research and passed our findings along to waterfowl agencies and organizations across the continent for implementation.

What Delta didn’t do was direct, on-the-ground management.

That has changed. In recent years our mission has evolved, and today we have embarked on an exciting new chapter in our long and proud history. No, we’re not abandoning our all-important research. Instead, we have expanded our mission to include the application of direct management techniques with our partners on the prairie landscape.

In other words, we’re going to take what we’ve learned and put it to work producing ducks for duck hunters.

We call this new endeavor Delta’s Duck Production Program.

Why have we decided to veer off our course of 65 years and participate in waterfowl management? Because we fervently believe some of the dollars provided by hunters should be put to work raising ducks, and in many cases this is not happening.

The traditional goal of waterfowl management has been to acquire, restore and preserve habitats. Waterfowl managers have long understood that habitat is the first and most important ingredient in the recipe for producing ducks. The job of securing endangered habitats is critically important, one we at Delta whole-heartedly support.

But the issue on the table is ducks, and our best science tells us that habitat alone isn’t always enough to increase production rates. Dollars provided in good faith by duck hunters are a major source of funding for habitat projects, but in many cases hunters aren’t getting a fair return on their investment.

Many of the elaborate and expensive habitat projects across the continent simply aren’t producing ducks. Many actually qualify as “population sinks”, which means ducks are not reproducing at a rate that maintains population levels.

How can that be? The explanation can be found in a groundbreaking study conducted by Ron Reynolds of the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Reynolds’ research revealed that unless 35 to 40 percent of a township consists of grassy nesting cover, nest success is usually too low to maintain duck populations at existing levels.

Unfortunately huge portions of the pothole region do not reach that Habitat Threshold, and never will. Much of what was once an endless sea of grass punctuated by millions of acres of wetlands has been converted to agricultural use. Grasslands have been broken to produce wheat, soybeans, corn and barley to feed a hungry nation; wetlands have been drained and put into production.

Across much of the eastern Dakotas and prairie Canada, grass cover falls far short of the Habitat Threshold. In these good agricultural areas with a low grassland compliment ducks are not faring well.

We could abandon these areas and focus our energies and dollars on areas that are near or exceed the Habitat Threshold, but that would mean abandoning a large percentage of our ducks. According to the Fish & Wildlife Service, half of the mallard pairs that nest in North Dakota settle in the Drift Prairie, where grass cover is sparse and duck production meager.

That’s where Delta’s Duck Production Program comes into the picture. We’ll go into these areas and apply intensive management practices that are proven to increase duck production to population-expanding levels. We’re going to put these techniques to work, raising ducks for duck hunters.

Think in terms of a garden. If you put a handful of seeds in the ground and ignore your garden until harvest time, the yield will be minimal. But if you periodically weed and apply water and fertilizer, that garden will produce a bountiful harvest.

That’s what Delta’s Duck Production Program is about. We’re going to nurture the prairie landscape, giving ducks every opportunity to produce a bountiful crop.

Scientific studies dating back to the 1960s confirm that predators are the major factor inhibiting duck production. Predators like foxes, raccoons and skunks destroy upwards to 9 out of 10 duck nests and are the major cause of hen mortality. Providing secure nesting sites by removing predators and erecting Hen Houses™ during the breeding season will boost nest success dramatically.

Why is production higher where the Habitat Threshold is achieved? Because large undisturbed blocks of nesting cover make duck nests more difficult for predators to locate and also produce alternative food sources for predators.

Where the Habitat Threshold is reached, we’ll let ducks “do their thing”. In intensively farmed regions where the Habitat Threshold is unattainable, we’ll remove predators during the breeding season to “level the playing field” for vulnerable hens and nests.

Some say we should “let nature take its course.” But foxes, raccoons and skunks are not part of the natural order across the prairie breeding grounds. Prior to settlement, foxes and skunks existed in very limited numbers in the United States; raccoons were scattered in the US and virtually nonexistent across most of prairie Canada.

Because duck populations didn’t evolve with these predators at their current high densities, they have greatly reduced reproductive rates. Delta believes that in these greatly impacted landscapes we need to use all tools available in order to ensure our collective habitat and habitat management efforts are successful.

Hen Houses are another effective tool for dealing with predation. Hen Houses are artificial nesting structures that put mallard hens “out of harm’s way” during nesting. Our student research has shown that Hen Houses are an incredible tool with usage rates and nest success typically at 80 percent. Hen Houses can be used like wood duck boxes, constructed and maintained by individuals, local hunter groups and wildlife management groups.

We’re expanding our Adopt a Pothole program across prairie Manitoba where, unlike the US, wetlands have no legislative protection. Long-term our goal is to expand the program to Alberta and Saskatchewan.

In the US prairie Delta will support an array of habitat programs directed at attaining and surpassing the Habitat Threshold.

And we’re going to work for landscape-level solutions to our duck problems. Delta is currently working with many agricultural groups to promote Alternate Land Use Services (ALUS), a program that would provide grass cover on the Canadian landscape. Pilot projects are on track in Ontario and Manitoba and are being planned for other provinces including PEI, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Delta will use existing partners and seek new ones to deliver these programs. The US Fish and Wildlife Service in North Dakota and the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation currently are important partner delivery agencies. New partnerships have been formed with a long list of partners for the predator management, Hen Houses, Adopt A Pothole and ALUS.

We believe this is one of the most important steps in the history of waterfowl management and hope duck hunters agree, and support our efforts. The success of Delta’s Duck Production Program will ultimately hinge on the level of support we receive from duck hunters.

Members will have the option to support the program they choose—predator management, Hen Houses or Adopt a Pothole. Contributors to Delta’s Duck Production Program will receive a decal and certificate of appreciation suitable for framing.

But most important, they’ll know their investment is working to provide the return duck hunters want—more ducks in the fall flight.