North American waterfowl management plan 1998 United States progress report

              North American
Waterfowl
Management Plan
1998 United States Progress Report
Introduction
In the early 1980s, North America’s
waterfowl populations were plummeting.
An extended drought and the on-going
degradation and loss of wetlands across
the continent were taking their toll. For
example, the northern pintail population
crashed by 61 percent from numbers
recorded in the 1970s. Likewise, American
wigeon fell by 41 percent, green-winged
teal by 33 percent, and mallards by 52
percent.
Concerned scientists and citizens in Canada
and the United States rallied to reverse the
downward spiral of their shared resource.
With support from their federal
governments, they developed an
international plan for restoring waterfowl
populations to levels recorded in the
1970s––The North American Waterfowl
Management Plan. Canada and the United
States signed the Plan in 1986 and Mexico
signed in 1994, when the Plan was updated.
The Plan calls for public-private
partnerships, called joint ventures, to
advance biologically based, landscape-level
conservation of wetlands and associated
uplands habitat throughout North America.
This progress report highlights
conservation activities of U.S. habitat and
species joint ventures during 1998. It is
testimony to the commitment of joint
ventures to conserve the wetland
ecosystems critical to waterfowl survival.
But as you will see, the benefits of their
work extend beyond waterfowl to all
wetland-associated species.
Accomplishment tables seen in this report
contain data from the International
Tracking System, a database used to
record habitat accomplishments and
financial contributions of partners. Joint
venture coordinators edit and add data to
the Tracking System on an on-going basis.
Hence, adding 1998 accomplishments to the
cumulative totals seen in the 1997 report
will not equal the cumulative totals given
in the 1998 report.
While most Plan partners work diligently
to report the necessary data to their
joint venture coordinator, many
accomplishments are not reported.
Therefore, the magnitude of on-the-ground
conservation work achieved by Plan
partners is not fully reflected in this report.
Table of Contents
National Perspective .........................................................................................................................................................1
Atlantic Coast Joint Venture .........................................................................................................................................3
Black Duck Joint Venture ...............................................................................................................................................5
Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture...........................................................................................................................7
Gulf Coast Joint Venture .................................................................................................................................................9
Intermountain West Joint Venture ..............................................................................................................................11
U.S. Joint Venture Map...................................................................................................................................................13
Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture ....................................................................................................................15
Pacific Coast Joint Venture...........................................................................................................................................17
Playa Lakes Joint Venture ...........................................................................................................................................19
Prairie Pothole Joint Venture .....................................................................................................................................21
Rainwater Basin Joint Venture ...................................................................................................................................23
Upper Mississippi River/Great Lakes Region Joint Venture ..............................................................................25
Arctic Goose Joint Venture ...........................................................................................................................................27
Totals ...................................................................................................................................................................................29
cover photo: Gary Kramer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
National Perspective
The year 1998 was indeed an exciting and
productive one for the North American
Waterfowl Management Plan and its many
partners. Like the dozen years of waterfowl
conservation achieved under the Plan since
1986, there are dozens of accomplishments
to tout this year as well. For starters, in
1998, Plan partners protected some 33,500
more acres and restored nearly 1,300 more
acres of habitat than in 1997.
Partners also continued to be involved in
updating the Plan. The 1986 document calls
for periodic updates to the Plan so that it
will remain relevant and applicable in an
ever-changing world. In addition, the North
American Wetlands Conservation Act,
amended in 1994, directs the U.S.
Secretary of the Interior to collaborate with
his counterparts in Canada and Mexico to
produce a 1998 update to the Plan. In
accordance with the language of the
original Plan and Act––and after 2 years of
extensive consultation, drafting, and editing
among the Plan Committee and partners
throughout the three countries––the 1998
update to the Plan is near completion. The
Committee expects Expanding the Vision
to be signed by each country in early 1999
and ready for distribution by late spring.
The 1998 update challenges Plan partners
to expand the scope of waterfowl
conservation as they approach the next
century. It offers three visions for the
future, calling for a strengthened biological
foundation for the Plan; a landscape
approach to waterfowl conservation that
also takes broader social and economic
factors into consideration; and broader
partnerships that include other bird
conservation initiatives and professional
sectors other than wildlife and natural
resource management. Many joint ventures
have already begun to embrace and
implement these visions on the ground,
helping to make the expanded vision of the
Plan a reality.
Many other endeavors continued to mature
and flourish in 1998. The Adaptive
Management and Assessment Team fine-tuned
its form and function, working closely
with joint ventures to improve and
strengthen the biology of waterfowl
conservation under the Plan. Likewise, up
and coming joint ventures like the San
Francisco Bay Joint Venture and the Sea
Duck Joint Venture continued to solidify
their contacts, partnership frameworks,
1
and implementation plans. Both joint
ventures are expected to be endorsed by
the Committee in 1999.
This year, the International Tracking
System (ITS) has undergone significant
database restructuring, which will continue
into 1999. Joint Venture Coordinators and
Plan partners are interested in refining and
simplifying the method by which partners
report habitat accomplishments and
financial contributions. The Upper
Mississippi River-Great Lakes Region and
Pacific Coast Joint Ventures have already
begun to implement the new reporting
methods, which are reflected in this report.
In addition, this will be the first year that
the Black Duck Joint Venture is submitting
data on partner contributions, both annual
and cumulative.
Plan partners look forward to the
opportunities of 1999 that will take them
into the next millennium with the
populations and habitats of both waterfowl
and other wetland-dependent wildlife in
better shape than ever before!
2
Young Brown Pelicans/John Turner, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Atlantic Coast Joint Venture
In many respects, 1998 was a banner year
for the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture. On
the administrative front, the Joint Venture
filled two important assistant coordinator
positions, reassembled the Joint Venture
Technical Committee, and began the
revision of its Implementation Plan.
The states of Delaware, Georgia, Maryland,
South Carolina, and Virginia, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service’s Regional Offices 4
and 5 and North American Waterfowl and
Wetlands Office, and the U.S. Forest
Service combined resources to help fund a
newly established assistant coordinator
position in the Southeast. State funds were
matched by a grant from the National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation.
Craig Watson, a wildlife biologist with the
Forest Service, was selected to fill this
position and is stationed at the Forest
Service’s Center for Forested Wetland
Research in Charleston, South Carolina.
Chuck Hayes was hired in August to fill the
vacant assistant coordinator position in the
Northeast, and is co-located with the Fish
and Wildlife Service’s Rhode Island Refuge
Complex and Southern New England/New
York Bight Coastal Program.
Joint Venture funds were leveraged with
partner contributions to accomplish
numerous projects in 10 states, including
seven on national wildlife refuges and four
on private lands. Cooperative agreements
were established or maintained with eight
partner agencies or organizations: Ducks
Unlimited, Inc., The Nature Conservancy,
the Wildlife Management Institute, the
Ashley River Conservation Coalition, the
Biological Resources Division of U.S.
Geological Survey, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, SWAMP
(Save Wetlands And Manage Pests), and
Cornell University.
Nine Joint Venture projects were approved
under the North American Wetlands
Conservation Act, including the first two
Act projects to take place in Connecticut.
Federal grants of $6,044,655 were matched
by $14,251,904 in non-Federal partner
funds to protect, restore and/or enhance
11,385 acres.
3
1998 Cumulative
Federal $20,364,005 $251,881,369
State/Local $ 244,941 $ 33,027,189
Private Organizations $ 137,000 $ 39,729,506
Individuals $ 72,735 $ 3,135,368
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 15,916 371,536 945,000
Restored 278 49,780 88,050
Enhanced 5,011 526,9351 121,740
1. Enhancement accomplishments in 1994 include
400,000 acres under a 30-year timber management plan.
4
Habitat Accomplishments
Bog Turtle/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Partner Contributions
Black Duck Joint Venture
In 1998, Black Duck Joint Venture
partners conducted aerial surveys of
breeding waterfowl pairs from Ontario
eastward to Newfoundland. Four crews in
fixed-wing aircraft surveyed line transects
from strata 50 through 69, linking
observations with global positioning
systems. Helicopter surveys of 25 square
kilometer plots were conducted in Ontario,
Québec, and the Atlantic provinces to
assess habitat-related changes in regional
black duck densities. Black duck numbers
generally increased this spring, both range-wide
and regionally.
New banding reference areas continue to
be the focus for a redesigned banding
program. Maintaining established stations
with a history of productive black duck
banding is important for obtaining survival
data, but it must also be cost-effective. In
1998, more than 31,000 ducks were banded,
including some 5,700 black ducks. Banding
data improves our understanding of the
role that harvest plays in the dynamics of
black duck populations and continues to be
the primary source of information for
population models.
Joint Venture partners completed field
work on two research projects in Canada,
involving a landscape level evaluation of
breeding black ducks’ habitat use and a
long-term assessment of beaver pond
management in Ontario.
Ongoing black duck studies in the United
States focus on changes in their winter
distribution, abundance, and body
condition. The Georgia Cooperative
Wildlife Research Unit has been contracted
to review, assemble, and integrate key
databases into models to test hypotheses.
These hypotheses explore over-harvest,
competition with mallards, and quality and
quantity of breeding and wintering habitats
as possible limiting factors in the black
duck population. A final report will be
available in early 1999.
5
6
1998 Cumulative
Federal $487,300 $6,121,161
State/Local $123,500 $1,190,000
Private Organization $ 76,660 $ 714,667
1998 Cumulative
Surveys $299,300 $3,926,650
Banding $190,000 $1,784,100
Research $157,400 $1,859,867
Communications $ 3,300 $ 140,400
Project Expenditures (U.S. Funds)
Black Duck/Glen Smart,U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Partner Contributions
Central Valley Habitat
Joint Venture
This 10-year anniversary of the Central
Valley Habitat Joint Venture was a
landmark year for habitat accomplish-ments.
Partners celebrated the restoration
of the West Bear Creek Unit of San Luis
National Wildlife Refuge––the largest
endeavor of its kind in the West.
They also toasted the signing of the Central
Valley Project Improvement Act’s Refuge
Water Supply document. A guaranteed
water supply is crucial to the success of
public and private wetlands in the Central
Valley. This 1998 document guarantees
water to parched public and private refuges
even during critically dry years.
Two of the largest multi-partner North
American Wetlands Conservation Act
projects in the Joint Venture’s history are
currently nearing completion. Partners in
the Grasslands Ecological Area
Enhancement and Restoration Project
have enhanced and restored 30,625 acres
and protected an additional 397 acres
through fee-title acquisition. These lands
provide habitat for 22 Federally listed or
proposed species, priority waterfowl, and
many species of other migratory birds.
Partners in the North Central Valley
Wetland Habitat Project have protected
7,745 acres of wetlands and associated
riparian and upland habitat, restored
wetland hydrology on 6,603 acres of
agricultural land, and enhanced a total of
7,762 acres of public and private wetlands.
These areas provide important foraging
habitat for waterfowl, especially the
greater sandhill crane––a State-listed
threatened species.
The Joint Venture kicked off a monitoring
and evaluation program this year to
adaptively plan, implement, and evaluate
its activities on the landscape. In particular,
partners wish to assess the effects of their
accomplishments in wetland habitat
improvements throughout the Central
Valley. Concurrently, partners are
reviewing and updating the Implementation
Plan to address waterfowl and wetland
needs into the next century.
7
Habitat Accomplishments
8
Wood Duck/David K. Rosen, Wildside Photography
Partner Contributions
1998 Cumulative
Federal $2,424,503 $135,590,359
State/Local $ 829,299 $ 73,446,036
Private Organizations $ 386,383 $ 15,518,859
Individuals $1,094,509 $ 5,907,373
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 618 75,004 80,000
Restored 5,552 45,821 120,000
Enhanced 22,292 Not Reported1 735,000
1. The Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture is current-ly
revising the protocols for reporting cumulative
enhancement accomplishments.
Gulf Coast Joint Venture
A significant change occurred in the
organization of the Gulf Coast Joint
Venture in 1998. A full-time Biological
Team Leader position was established to
guide and coordinate the Joint Venture’s
efforts to improve and expand its biological
planning, assessment, and research
activities. In establishing the position, the
Joint Venture recognized the need to
strengthen the biological foundation of
its wetland habitat objectives, habitat
conservation strategies, and waterfowl
population objectives. This strengthening
is crucial for making biologically based
resource decisions.
This year’s organizational change helped
the Joint Venture to direct its energy
towards updating the implementation plans
for all six of its initiative areas. During the
year, a “scoping” meeting was held with
each initiative area team to identify the
underlying data and key biological
assumptions or predictions of their
implementation strategy(ies). This update
process is expected to near completion by
early 2000.
The Joint Venture continues to be an active
voice on behalf of waterfowl management
issues and migratory bird conservation
concerns. Partners worked tirelessly in
1998 to provide input on the development of
a generic amendment to “Fishery
Management Plans of the Gulf of Mexico”
that would address essential fish habitat.
The Joint Venture also responded to the
changes being proposed to Federal
migratory bird baiting regulations which
would involve new guidance for hunting
over manipulated natural vegetation.
The North American Wetlands
Conservation Act continued to play a key
role in enabling partners to conserve
wetland habitat for the future. Four Joint
Venture projects involving nearly 3,000
acres were approved in 1998 for funding
under the Act. These included the
Pontchartrain Wetlands II/Bayou Sauvage
project in Louisiana and Phase I/The Katy
Prairie Initiative, Austin’s Woods/Brazoria
NWR Complex, and Aransas Refuge
Wetlands projects in Texas.
9
1998 Cumulative
Federal $ 15,612 $80,070,971
State/Local $ 2,739 $43,467,855
Private Organizations $160,047 $10,823,248
Individuals $ 63,148 $ 1,273,476
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 1,653 223,679 689,000
Restored 1,238 45,571 104,000
Enhanced 12,335 672,818 958,000
10
Partner Contributions
Habitat Accomplishments
Redhead/Glen Smart, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Intermountain West
Joint Venture
The partnership concept continues to
prosper within the Intermountain West
Joint Venture. The future looks bright as
interest continues to expand in forming
large-project partnerships to affect
significant wetland ecosystems across the
Joint Venture. In every year since the Joint
Venture began, more partnerships have
formed around more wetland conservation
projects than the previous year, and 1998
was no exception.
In 1998, the Teton River Basin Wetlands
Conservation Project in east-central Idaho,
the Great Salt Lake Wetlands Project in
Utah, and the Beaverhead Wetland
Protection Project in southwestern
Montana all received funding from the
North American Wetlands Conservation
Act Standard Grants Program. In addition,
the Hyatt Wetland Acquisition Project in
Boise, Idaho was also awarded funding
from the Act Small Grants Program. These
projects increased cumulative acreage for
Act projects within the Joint Venture by
nearly 50 percent and raised cumulative
expended project funds to over $22.5
million since 1995.
With technical assistance from PacifiCorp
(a western public utility and Joint Venture
Management Board member), the Board
produced an outreach video narrated by
former Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming.
Board members will use this video as a tool
to invite potential corporate and other
business partners to participate in Joint
Venture projects.
Partners established a Technical
Committee to provide biologically based
recommendations to the Board regarding
wetland ecosystem conservation actions
within the Joint Venture area. The
Committee will also recommend a biological
planning approach to assess the goals and
objectives of the Joint Venture.
Membership on the Board continues to
evolve as new members join its ranks and
as changes occur among existing
representatives. In 1998, the Joint Venture
welcomed new members from the Rocky
Mountain Elk Foundation, Barrick
Goldstrike Mining of Elko, Nevada, and the
State Divisions of Wildlife from Colorado
and Utah.
11
12
Partner Contributions
Habitat Accomplishments
Cinnamon Teal/Gary R. Zahm
1998 Cumulative
Federal $395,721 $6,537,261
State/Local $ 79,487 $3,965,734
Private Organizations $ 26,509 $1,507,862
Individuals $134,193 $2,274,689
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 708 8,394 1,500,000
Restored 1,748 27,471 500,0001
Enhanced 1,291 47,491 500,0001
1. Habitat improvement objectives are assumed to rep-resent
restoration and enhancement at a 1:1 ratio.
Prairie Pothole
Upper Mississippi River/
Great Lakes Region
Pacific
Coast
Intermountain West
U.S. Habitat Joint Venture Areas
14
Atlantic
Coast
Playa Lakes
Gulf Coast
Lower Mississippi
Valley
Rainwater Basin
Central
Valley
Lower Mississippi Valley
Joint Venture
Instituting a partnership approach to the
implementation of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Wetlands Reserve Program
(WRP) has given a big boost to forested
wetlands restoration in the Lower
Mississippi River Valley. Since the WRP’s
inception in 1992, Lower Mississippi Valley
Joint Venture partners in Arkansas,
Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and
Tennessee have placed more than 250,000
acres under permanent protection through
conservation easements. The majority of
these acres are in the three southernmost
states. In 1998 alone, Joint Venture
partners reforested over 15,000 acres in
Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi
through WRP easements. Over time, the
magnitude of the restoration effort this
year began to overwhelm the limited staff
of the Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) in charge of implementing
the WRP. Realizing the importance of the
program to waterfowl and other wetland
wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, Delta Wildlife
Foundation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service entered into cooperative agreements
with NRCS to assist in developing and
installing wetland restoration plans on the
enrolled easements.
Almost all of these lands were once
forested wetlands, but have been cleared
and drained for agriculture since the late
1950’s. A minimum of 70 percent of the
easements will be reforested with native
bottomland hardwood species, including
bald cypress, green ash, and various oaks.
Up to 30 percent of the acreage can be
restored to non-forested wetlands, such as
moist-soil areas. Levees, berms, ditch
plugs, water control structures, and other
features can be installed to restore wetland
hydrology to pre-drainage conditions
wherever necessary.
When these Joint Venture restoration
actions are added to the others occurring
through the North American Wetlands
Conservation Act, Partners for Fish and
Wildlife, and on state and Federal refuges,
one can begin to appreciate the extent to
which the Delta’s landscape is being
improved for the new millennium.
15
16
1998 Cumulative
Federal $4,084,534 $131,460,815
State/Local $1,216,818 $ 23,348,911
Private Organizations $ 664,535 $ 9,117,043
Individuals $ 24,161 $ 5,577,649
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 0 364,044 473,000
Restored 20,786 193,107 864,000
Enhanced 4,012 194,450 1,182,000
Partner Contributions
Habitat Accomplishments
Black Bear/R.I. Bridges,U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
17
Pacific Coast Joint Venture
In 1998, three Pacific Coast Joint Venture
projects were approved for North American
Wetlands Conservation Act funding.
Through these projects, partners will
restore 8,000 acres within the Columbia
River floodplain and 1,200 acres along
California’s north coast, and also purchase
and restore an industrial area on the
Olympic Peninsula’s otherwise pristine
Sequim Bay.
State partners received six national Coastal
Wetlands conservation grants, which they
will use to purchase over 2,000 acres of
estuarine and riverine habitat important to
migratory birds and critical to the
Northwest’s declining anadromous fish
populations.
Ongoing evaluation and monitoring projects
involve investigating spartina and red
canary grass removal, prioritizing estuarine
protection in Puget Sound using a
Geographic Information System (GIS), and
studying waterfowl feeding in relation to
agricultural and inland shorebird habitat
preferences.
The Washington State Steering Committee
sponsored a workshop to provide
information to legislators on the threat of
invasive spartina in northwest estuaries.
Washington and Oregon State Committees
printed and mailed newsletters to 30,000
subscribers, highlighting partner
accomplishments and providing information
on conservation programs. These quarterly
newsletters are cost-shared among the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, states, and Ducks
Unlimited, Inc.
Joint Venture partners also supported the
annual 5-day Coastal Wetland Institute for
Teachers program and are funding an
international brant monitoring program.
This new program will provide optics and
computers to middle schools from Alaska’s
Izembek Bay to Baja, Mexico––enabling
them to communicate with each other
through the Internet as the birds migrate
through these areas.
Since 1991, the Joint Venture has
accomplished 85 percent of its habitat
protection objectives set forth by the Plan.
Looking to the future, the Joint Venture
will be revising its objectives to reflect the
needs of all wetland-dependent migratory
bird species, in accordance with the 1998
update to the Plan. This should significantly
increase Joint Venture habitat targets for
the next 8 years.
18
Partner Contributions
Habitat Accomplishments
Harlequin Duck/Glen Smart, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1998 Cumulative
Federal $ 8,103,305 $84,054,817
State/Local $15,607,888 $92,913,002
Private Organizations $30,316,891 $41,537,387
Individuals $ 791,123 $ 5,550,934
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 7,365 88,638 116,000
Restored 3,005 8,245 21,000
Enhanced 1,643 7,645 22,000
Playa Lakes Joint Venture
The year 1998 brought new partners,
important projects, and a renewed focus to
the Playa Lakes Joint Venture.
With financial contributions by partner
Phillips Petroleum Company, the Joint
Venture participated in the Partners for
Fish and Wildlife Federal program and
developed a strong alliance with Texas
landowners. In the intensively cultivated
High Plains, landowners continued to
voluntarily restore their playas and upland
vegetation with assistance from Joint
Venture partners. Cumulatively, their
efforts protect playa basins across the
landscape.
The U.S. Forest Service allocated
Challenge Cost-Share Federal Grants
Program funds to restore and enhance
wetlands on National Grasslands in the
Joint Venture region, after an assessment
had been conducted by Ducks Unlimited,
Inc., and other partners.
The Colorado Wetlands Initiative continues
to thrive with the development of the
southern Colorado Playa Lakes focus area.
This year the Joint Venture also expanded
its boundary northward to include the
Arikaree and Republican Rivers project
areas and a corresponding area in
northwestern Kansas.
The Tierra y Montes Soil and Water
Conservation District and the Natural
Resources Conservation Service continue
to be a driving force in riparian and
wetlands restoration in northeastern New
Mexico. Their work along the Gallinas,
Sapello, Mora, and Pecos drainages will
benefit migratory birds, other wildlife,
and the surrounding communities. In
southeastern New Mexico, a complex of
projects are underway involving the
creation of shallow impoundments and
moist soil units on Federal and State lands.
In one such project, the Chaves County
Road Department joined a partnership to
construct an 80-acre impoundment on
the Dexter National Fish Hatchery.
The Texas Playa Lakes Education Center
has been established at Texas Tech
University. The Joint Venture is pleased
to now be able to loan educational material
and teacher guides to educators. These
resources are available from state wildlife
agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
19
20
Partner Contributions
Habitat Accomplishments
American Wigeon/A.A. Allen,U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1998 Cumulative
Federal $114,001 $2,527,690
State/Local $ 35,072 $5,105,565
Private Organizations $ 73,924 $ 666,005
Individuals $ 51,000 $ 959,532
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 704 17,303 51,000
Restored 519 10,954 10,000
Enhanced 7,261 13,586 25,000
Prairie Pothole Joint Venture
The prairies became drier in 1998, with a
population of breeding ducks estimated to
be 39.1 million––or approximately 7 million
less than in the record-high year of 1997.
During dry conditions, the wetland/
grassland protection and restoration
activities of the Prairie Pothole Joint
Venture partners become increasingly
critical to successful waterfowl production.
Joint Venture partners are working to
increase perpetual grassland easements in
the Missouri Coteau, where ducks, birds
and other wildlife are abundant and the
threat of habitat being converted to
cropland is high. Grassland easements
allow grazing but limit haying to protect
birds during the nesting season. They also
help maintain grassland cover, provide cash
income to landowners, are voluntary, and
keep the land in private hands.
Partners completed a shorebird ecology
and management workshop with
participation from Canada and Mexico,
initiated a Northern Great Plains Shorebird
Working Group to help develop the
National Shorebird Plan, and produced the
video “The Amazing Journey of the
Migrating Shorebirds.” New information on
shorebirds in the prairies is accessible on
the Internet at www.mesc.usgs.gov/
shorebirds. Partners also produced the
video “The Prairie Pothole Region:
Changes and Choices.”
The Northern Tallgrass Prairie Bird
Conservation Plan was completed and the
Mid-Grass Plan is being reviewed. Joint
Venture partners are also participating in
the development of the North American
Bird Conservation Initiative. Partners held
a biological planning workshop that
involved an in-depth exchange of research,
planning, and evaluation information with
the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture.
Coordination with other bird initiatives and
joint venture evaluation and monitoring
were also discussed.
Partners continued to create maps for
waterfowl breeding pair distribution,
upland cover in the Dakotas, and the
National Wetlands Inventory in Montana.
Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge was
named a Wetland of International
Importance––the 16th in the United States
but the first in the Prairie Pothole Joint
Venture!
21
22
Partner Contributions
Habitat Accomplishments
Lesser Scaup/Glen Smart, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1998 Cumulative
Federal $3,518,243 $76,737,021
State/Local $ 540,964 $36,665,612
Private Organizations $ 905,402 $22,900,098
Individuals $ 374,621 $ 2,554,609
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 29,113 518,434 1,892,000
Restored 17,799 177,875 745,000
Enhanced 45,678 522,832 3,670,000
Rainwater Basin Joint
Venture
Recognizing the importance and value of
their perspective, in 1998 the Rainwater
Basin Joint Venture Management Board
welcomed two new members from the
farming community. This reflects the Joint
Venture’s efforts and commitment to
integrate wetland restoration and
management into a landscape dominated
by agricultural activity. The Joint Venture’s
emphasis on watershed planning continued
to bring the rural community into the
wetland restoration and management
arena.
Partners continued developing Rainwater
Basin Geographic Information Compact
Discs, which will make digital data such as
aerial photos, soil information, pre-development
topographic maps, public and
private land information, the National
Wetland Inventory, and more, available
in the field. These CDs will provide data
critical to making informed on-site
decisions and evaluating bioengineering
projects.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is
conducting a planning study within the
Joint Venture region for the restoration
and enhancement of publicly owned basins.
The goal is to improve their function as
sustainable habitat for waterfowl and other
migratory birds. The Joint Venture awaits
the resulting land-use cover for the entire
Rainwater Basin landscape, which will
enable bioengineering teams to target and
restore wetland hydrology on a watershed
basis.
Joint Venture partners began developing
its Evaluation and Monitoring Plan this
year, and expect to begin collecting
information soon to move its restoration
and management activities into a truly
proactive phase.
Partnerships continue to evolve, mature,
and expand as the Joint Venture increases
the complexity of its objectives. For
example, partners recently helped a small
town acquire and restore a 70-acre wetland.
The educational, recreational, and aesthetic
benefits of the wetland will enhance the
quality of the surrounding rural
community. This type of successful
cooperative effort helps strengthen
the credibility of the North American
Waterfowl Management Plan’s model of
integrated, interdisciplinary, and inclusive
partnerships that are mutually beneficial.
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Partner Contributions
Habitat Accomplishments
Whooping Crane/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
1998 Cumulative
Federal $26,637 $3,712,424
State/Local $17,990 $ 560,784
Private Organizations $56,810 $ 375,579
Individuals $ 1,679 $ 42,383
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres Objectives
Protected 318 15,355 50,000
Restored 425 4,628 30,000
Enhanced 0 1,024 8,000
Upper Mississippi River/
Great Lakes Region Joint
Venture
The Upper Mississippi River-Great Lakes
Region Joint Venture updated its
Implementation Plan in 1998, expanding
partnerships into 10 upper Midwest states
and revising its habitat and population
objectives to include migrating waterfowl
and non-game migratory birds. Due in
large part to conservation activities
associated with projects funded through
the North American Wetlands Conser-vation
Act, Joint Venture partners were
able to conserve over 60,000 acres of
habitat in 1998.
This year, 15 Joint Venture projects
received funding through the Act’s
Standard (11) and Small (4) Grants
Program for a total of more than $8 million.
Many of these grants will support sub-sequent
phases of complex or landscape-level
projects, including Wisconsin’s
Northwest Pothole and Southeast Coastal
Habitat initiatives, Indiana’s Grand
Kankakee Marsh and Southwest Four
Rivers projects, and Minnesota’s Heron
Lake and Red Lake restoration projects.
The Joint Venture also received $28 million
in matching funds from partners in the 15
projects, enabling an additional 32,000
acres of habitat to be protected, restored,
and enhanced for the benefit of waterfowl
and other wildlife.
With these funded projects came several
exciting new partnerships this year.
Pheasants Forever is leading the Prairie
Wetland Heritage Conservation Initiative,
a consortium of partners in 36 south-western
Minnesota counties who will
acquire and restore prairie wetland/
grassland complexes. Federal, Tribal,
state and local governments and nonprofit
groups are collaborating in the Superior
Coastal Wetland Initiative to protect
sensitive coastal wetlands along
Wisconsin’s Lake Superior shoreline.
In Michigan, the partners of the Saginaw
Bay Wetland Initiative, led by Ducks
Unlimited, Inc., will protect and restore
wetlands and uplands in the 60-mile linear
corridor of the Saginaw Bay watershed.
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Partner Contributions
Habitat Accomplishments
Mallard/Wyman Meinzer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1998 Cumulative
Federal $1,233,480 $21,884,884
State/Local $ 107,542 $29,045,161
Private Organizations $ 138,086 $ 7,406,987
Individuals $ 112,192 $ 1,346,863
1998 Cumulative
Acres Acres
Protected 48,407 115,485
Restored 19,011 79,014
Enhanced 59,887 150,248
1. Total habitat objectives = 758,572 acres.
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Arctic Goose Joint Venture
In 1998, the Arctic Goose Joint Venture
Goose Habitat Working Group completed
the Greater Snow Goose Report, to be
released in February 1999. The report
details extensive population changes, the
impacts on their natural habitats,
farmlands, and other populations, and also
makes recommendations for management
actions.
This year, the Joint Venture approved the
Technical Committee’s document, Science
Needs for the Management of Lesser Snow
Goose Populations. The document provides
the framework for wildlife agencies to
monitor their success in reducing over-abundant
lesser snow goose populations.
Three priority actions identified in the
document include the photo inventorying,
banding, and harvest monitoring of the
colonies. Partners have already completed
the photo inventory in the Central Arctic
and have expanded banding efforts into
several key areas.
The Joint Venture continued to support the
Hudson Bay Project, which investigates the
impacts of the abundant lesser snow goose
populations on ecosystem processes.
Partners used resulting information to
develop the report Arctic Ecosystems In
Peril and will continue to apply project
findings to future management actions.
Following the analyses of the Joint
Venture-coordinated Dark Goose Science
Program, the Mississippi and Central
Flyway Councils developed and completed
their combined White-Fronted Goose
Management Plan this year. Partners
expanded the Queen Maud Gulf banding
program and have continued the Alaskan
white-fronted goose collaring and
monitoring program, due to concern over
anticipated changes in regulations and
populations, respectively.
The partners continued to study the
breeding distribution and productivity of
the Atlantic population of Canada geese––
a population in such serious decline that
their hunting season still remains closed in
the Atlantic Flyway.
In 1998, the Joint Venture also funded a
program to provide information on black
brant in the Pacific Flyway. The initial
phase of the program involved monitoring
marked birds to study their distribution,
movements, and habitat use.
1998 Cumulative
Federal $40,280,041 $ 794,457,611
State/Local $18,682,740 $ 341,545,849
Private Organizations $32,865,587 $ 149,582,574
Individuals $ 2,719,361 $ 28,622,876
Total $94,547,729 $1,314,208,910
Total Habitat Joint Venture Contributions Total Habitat Accomplishments
1998 Acres Cumulative Acres
Protected 104,802 1,797,872
Restored 70,361 642,466
Enhanced 159,410 2,137,029
1. The cumulative enhancement figure does not include
accomplishments within the Central Valley Habitat
Joint Venture.
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Total Species Joint Venture Contributions
1998 Cumulative
Federal $487,300 $6,121,161
State/Local $123,500 $1,190,000
Private Organization $ 76,660 $ 714,667
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
North American Waterfowl & Wetlands Office
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 110
Arlington, VA 22203
Arctic Goose Joint Venture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 634
Arlington, VA 22203
Atlantic Coast Joint Venture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, MA 01035-9589
Black Duck Joint Venture
Patuxent Research Center
12100 Beech Forest Drive
Laurel, MD 20708
Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
2800 Cottage Way, MP152
Sacramento, CA 95825
Gulf Coast Joint Venture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
500 Gold Avenue, SW, Room 5504
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Intermountain West Joint Venture
U.S. Forest Service
145 East 1300 South, Suite 404
Lincoln Plaza Center
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
2524 South Frontage Road, Suite C
Vicksburg, MS 39180
Pacific Coast Joint Venture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
9317 NE Highway 99, Suite D
Vancouver, WA 98665
Playa Lakes Joint Venture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
500 Gold Avenue, SW, Room 5504
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Prairie Pothole Joint Venture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 25486
Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225
Rainwater Basin Joint Venture
2550 North Diers Avenue, Suite L
Grand Island, NE 68803
Upper Mississippi River/
Great Lakes Region Joint Venture
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
One Federal Drive
Fort Snelling, MN 55111