Conditions Mixed, Update on Delta's Predator Management Work Joel Brice Provides a View of the Habitat Conditions and Delta's predator Management Efforts

Delta's Joel Brice

To “level the playing field,” we hire professional trappers to treat these areas—and our research results over the years have been impressive: a consistent doubling of nest success.

This year, Delta’s predator management program consists of 14 professional trappers who are operating in two states (North Dakota and South Dakota) and two Canadian provinces (Saskatchewan and Manitoba). Each trapper has completed roughly half of a four-month contract to manage predators and increase duck nest success.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve spent the day with six of our trappers in North Dakota, South Dakota and Manitoba. Riding along on the trap line with each trapper is an annual protocol that helps me verify their trapping effort and make sure they’re trapping in the safest and most effective way possible.

From the view of my windshield and ATV, I can definitely say that wetland conditions are extremely variable. In central North Dakota, wetland conditions are mostly very dry—consistent with what we’ve seen over the past several years—while portions of southwestern Manitoba contain excellent water conditions, the majority of the region is exceptionally dry.

Predator Corridor: Example of a predator travel corridor—perfect area to set a trap.

While it is dry in most areas of the Prairie Pothole Region, we are blessed to have good wetland conditions in and around our South Dakota and Manitoba trap sites. In particular, wetland conditions in northeast South Dakota are extremely wet, with abundant temporary and seasonal wetlands and strong densities of breeding ducks.

One of the most noteworthy observations on this trip was the addition of the opossum to the list of nest predators we encounter with predator management. Almost without exception, striped skunk and raccoon are the two most abundant nest predators across the U.S. and Canadian breeding grounds. On one of our South Dakota trap sites (currently being trapped for the first time in 2008), opossum are currently the second most abundant predator recorded—second to raccoon and notably more abundant than striped skunks.

A final thought: I can’t help but note how quickly Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres have melted back into the agricultural landscape. On my trip, I visited several CRP fields that I knew had expired in the fall of last year. By the time I visited this month, you’d never guess that grass cover was ever present—black dirt!

That’s neither good for ducks nor duck hunters.

Plowed CRP: CRP field currently being broken in northeastern South Dakota.