Did anybody see this? Tough stuff from Anderson...
Minnesota has duck problems. But it's not alone. And given that some 70 percent of ducks killed in the state originate their flights elsewhere -- primarily in Canada -- perhaps our duck problems aren't all of our own making. Such would be one interpretation of a conflict in prairie Canada that has boiled over in recent weeks.
Delta Waterfowl Foundation, a venerable, albeit relatively small, group with roots that extend deep into Minnesota soil, announced in recent days it has been kicked off, essentially, the Prairie Habitat Joint Venture (PHJV) in western Canada.
PHJV is one of various joint ventures that make up the North American Waterfowl Management Plan -- a program developed in the late 1980s to attempt to reverse declining duck populations.
Minnesota, for example, with the Dakotas, Iowa and Montana, form one such consortium, the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture.
But the duck-production action traditionally has been on the Canadian prairies. It's there where, during most of the past century, more than half of the continent's ducks have been produced.
It's there also where PHJV has operated.
Now indications flare up that a lot of money -- some $600 million, perhaps -- has been spent in Canada, ostensibly to benefit ducks, but without much to show for it.
Much of that money has come from American taxpayers in the form of grants under the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA).
With Ducks Unlimited-Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Canadian version of The Nature Conservancy, as well as provincial and other representatives, Delta Waterfowl Foundation has been a board member of PHJV.
But not a happy one -- at least not in recent years.
In its magazine, Delta has questioned the efficiency of duck-habitat and duck-production efforts of PHJV and, by its own admission, has been a bit of a thorn in the side of other board members.
"We want to be a partner in Canada," said Rob Olson, president of the Delta foundation. "But we have some issues that really need to be discussed, such as, what have we accomplished for $650 million?"
Delta is also a member of the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture, with Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, Iowa, Ducks Unlimited and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Olson said significant differences exist between that joint venture and PHJV, primarily that an accounting of habitat and other work done on the U.S. side is readily available.
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can tell you where the joint venture has done what, and what's worked and what hasn't," Olson said.
It's no secret that Ducks Unlimited-Canada, which is the major player in the Canadian joint venture, and Delta have scrapped in recent years over a variety of issues.
One need only look at the new Cabela's Waterfowl catalog, the first two pages of which are dedicated to Delta, to gain a sense of the tension .
"Predators are the major factor inhibiting duck production," Delta proclaims, and, "Securing general habitat alone is not enough to increase duck production rates."
Ducks Unlimited might not completely disagree with that, but the group wouldn't advocate those statements, either -- at least not as the top issues facing ducks, which is Delta's position.
(Top DU officials in the United States and Canada were unavailable for comment Thursday.)
Late last year, the Canadian joint venture board developed a "charter" it asked each member to sign. Delta refused, saying it was an effort to keep the group quiet and might also prohibit it in some instances from soliciting contributions.
Additionally, Olson said, Delta believed if it signed the charter it would be endorsing the joint venture's efforts, which it can't do until a full accounting of monies spent on Canadian conservation is made.
Dave Ankney, a retired waterfowl ecology professor at the University of Western Ontario, said he believes only about 350,000 acres have been purchased or secured through easements under PHJV, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent.
All of which is important to U.S. waterfowlers because Ducks Unlimited members here send a lot of money north each year to Ducks Unlimited-Canada. And NAWCA funds, contributed by American taxpayers, also go to Canada.
Delta is particularly affected by the conflict because it no longer has a seat on the PHJV board and because the board also has said Delta isn't eligible to receive NAWCA funds (Delta disagrees).
Bottom line: Regardless of who is at fault, if anyone, this matter had better get straightened out quickly. Historically, American waterfowlers have been a generous bunch, contributing to conservation their time and millions of dollars.
But of late they've grown embittered by a lack of ducks, and if they get even a hint their efforts are being wasted, their contributions to Canada -- and everyone involved -- will dry up faster than Saskatchewan's prairie potholes did this last
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Topic: Dennis anderson article in this weeks paper (Read 1992 times)
