U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Refuges,
Flyways and
Migratory
Waterfowl
A Message from the Director:
Waterfowl hunting is a rich part of
our nation’s heritage and hunters
continue to play a key role in the
conservation of our waterfowl and
wetland resources. The excise taxes
on hunting equipment and license
dollars collected help provide funding
to manage this incredible resource.
Through the purchase of Duck
Stamps alone, waterfowl hunters
have provided more than $650 million
to purchase nearly 5 million acres of
habitat critical to waterfowl that has
become part of the National Wildlife
Refuge System.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
in partnership with the states is
charged with the conservation and
management of waterfowl under
the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of
1918. One of the ways the Service
accomplishes this trust responsibility
is through its management of the
National Wildlife Refuge System,
which includes more than 540 refuges
with at least one in every state.
I hope this brochure will give
you more insight into how our
management of the National Wildlife
Refuge System plays a crucial
role in helping us ensure healthy
populations of waterfowl while
sustaining hunting opportunities
for our nation’s waterfowlers.
Good Hunting,
Steve Williams
Director, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service
Cover: Ross’s geese and
White-fronted geese.
Tupper Blake, FWS.
Service Director
Steve Williams
Managing habitat for
migratory waterfowl—
following the passage of
the Migratory Bird Act
of 1928—has been one
of the main purposes
for many National
Wildlife Refuges. The
Refuge Improvement
Act provides for six
public uses of its lands
and waters where those
uses do not adversely
impact refuge resources.
One of those uses is
hunting––allowed
on over 300 refuges––
which is both a useful
management tool as
well as a traditional
American recreational
activity.
Introduction
National wildlife refuges around the
country provide important hunting
opportunities for waterfowl hunters.
In many parts of the country, refuges
are premier hunting destinations
for both local and out-of-state
hunters. Whether or not you hunt
waterfowl on a National Wildlife
Refuge, undoubtedly, the ducks and
geese you hunt have spent a part of
their life cycle on a refuge. They may
have been hatched or reared on
a Waterfowl Production Area
or national wildlife refuge. Or they
may have stopped to rest and refuel
at one of the refuges strategically
located along one of the four flyways
during their annual spring and fall
migrations. Or maybe they use a
refuge on the wintering grounds to
rest, feed and establish pair bonds
before heading back north to start
the cycle all over again. All species
of ducks, geese and swans have
unique preferences for nesting,
migration and wintering habitats.
Collectively, they need food, cover
and water in order to survive.
The Life Cycle of Waterfowl and the
National Wildlife Refuge System
The annual cycle for waterfowl
begins each spring on the traditional
nesting grounds of the United States
and Canada. Each year, waterfowl
hunters eagerly await word of the
conditions on the breeding grounds
for ducks, geese and swans knowing
that good nesting conditions can lead
to a memorable waterfowl season.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
provides for this important habitat
need by managing its Refuge System,
including its component Waterfowl
Production Areas. These Areas
preserve wetlands and grasslands
critical to waterfowl and other
wildlife. Nearly 95 percent of
Waterfowl Production Areas are
located in the prairie pothole areas of
North and South Dakota, Minnesota,
and Montana. Other key states are
Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin and
Iowa. To date, there are 2,996 of
these areas covering 668,000 acres.
The entire National Wildlife Refuge
System plays an important role in
providing waterfowl breeding habitat
from Maine to the Prairie Pothole
Region to California and Alaska.
The main purpose for many of the
national wildlife refuges is to manage
habitat to benefit migratory birds,
particularly waterfowl.
Another tool the Service uses to
benefit waterfowl is conservation
easements on private lands. These
easements and National Wildlife
Refuges account for less than two
percent of the landscape in the
Prairie Pothole Region, yet they
are responsible for producing nearly
23 percent of the area’s waterfowl.
Just as important, Service staff work
extensively with private landowners
through voluntary partnerships that
enhance private lands for waterfowl
and other wildlife.
Nesting
Refuge Wetland,
Conscience Point
National Wildlife
Refuge, NY.
Hollingsworth, FWS.
Blue-winged teal brood.
J. Clark Salyer NWR,
North Dakota. FWS
photo: John and Karen
Hollingsworth.
The annual waterfowl migrations,
both spring and fall, are one of the
most amazing spectacles in nature.
Driven by changing weather
conditions and the search for food,
certain species of waterfowl will
migrate thousands of miles, stopping
only briefly to rest and replenish
their nutrient reserves. Others
migrate more slowly and have
longer stopovers en route. Yearly
variation in weather and food
supplies will greatly affect these
migration patterns.
Largely because of the success of
early banding programs, it became
possible in the early 1930s to map the
main migration corridors or flyways,
used by waterfowl on their annual
fall migration (see map on last page).
Utilizing the concept of these
four flyway corridors—Atlantic,
Mississippi, Central and Pacific—
the Service and its partners in
the states, Canada and many
conservation organizations, have
built the world’s best waterfowl
management program.
Along the north-south corridors
that make up the flyways, national
wildlife refuges dot the landscape.
Along those corridors over the past
75 years, the Service has strategically
established many of its refuges and
all of its Waterfowl Production Areas
to help meet widely held waterfowl
conservation goals.
Migration
Top: FWS photo:
Pat Hagan.
Mallard drakes.
FWS photo: Erwin
and Peggy Bauer
Snow goose. FWS photo:
Hollingsworth.
Wintering Wintering habitat is just as
important to the life cycle of
waterfowl as are breeding and
migration habitats.
The Service uses the Refuge System
as a foundation for waterfowl
management at the southern end of
the flyways to provide wintering
habitat for migrating ducks and
geese. Along with Joint Ventures,
which are public-private partnerships
that have conserved nearly 5 million
acres of wetlands, the Service uses
its refuges in a variety of ways to
achieve the greatest benefit for
this resource.
Refuge managers use a variety of
management techniques for both
migration and wintering habitats.
On some refuges, crops are planted
to supplement naturally occurring
waterfowl foods. These crops help
provide high energy foods to allow
migrating waterfowl to withstand
the rigors of migration and to
prepare for the spring journey to
their nesting grounds. Many of these
planted crops help prevent migrating
and wintering waterfowl from
depredating commercial crops on
nearby privately owned farmlands.
None of the refuges supplement
planted crops by dumping or
scattering grain or corn.
Another tool used by wildlife
managers to provide food to
waterfowl is moist soil management.
This technique uses water
manipulation and carefully timed soil
disturbance to produce natural foods,
like wild millet, smartweed, nutgrass,
and other sedges for wintering
waterfowl. By timing the flooding
and distribution of these areas,
refuge managers can provide these
important natural foods for use by
migrating and wintering waterfowl
over a long period.
A feature prevalent to refuges is
closed areas. Closed areas allow
waterfowl the opportunity to feed
and rest without disturbance.
Resting and feeding are vital to meet
the requirements of migrating and
wintering waterfowl. In addition,
closed areas provide opportunity for
molting, preening, pair bonding and
fat storage—all of which help build
healthier and bigger waterfowl
populations. Closed areas also help
maintain regional populations of
waterfowl in and around refuges,
providing hunting opportunity on
nearby private land as well as the
refuge. State wildlife agencies and
many private clubs also use this
method of improving hunting success
on lands they manage.
The value of closed areas would
decline if they were moved around.
Closed areas are selected for habitat
values. Once selected, closed areas
are signed, the public is notified, and
refuge officers enforce the closure.
When working with multiple species
of waterfowl and other wildlife,
rotating closed areas would reduce
the effectiveness of a closed area as
a waterfowl management practice,
and also result in a decline of overall
hunting opportunity on the refuge
and surrounding private lands.
American wigeon.
Steve Farrell, FWS.
Canada geese,
Blackwater National
Wildlife Refuge,
Maryland.
Shallenberger, FWS.
Conclusion
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
manages most of the national wildlife
refuges to meet the critical needs of
waterfowl. These refuges are vital
to accomplishing the mission of
ensuring healthy and sustainable
waterfowl populations into the future.
In turn, refuges provide sportsmen
and women with quality waterfowl
hunting opportunities.
Weather is cyclical, so are
waterfowl populations. Weather is
one of the main factors that drive
waterfowl migration.
Closed, cropped and moist-soil
managed areas on refuge lands
account for a very small percent of
total waterfowl habitat in the United
States. Given all the habitat on
private lands, the Service appreciates
all its partners, public and private,
that help insure future healthy
populations of waterfowl.
If you haven’t visited a refuge,
the Service encourages you to do
so soon to learn more about the
National Wildlife Refuge System
and the role it plays in conserving
waterfowl and other wildlife for
all Americans to enjoy.
For more information please visit
our web site at http://www.fws.gov,
or call 800/344 WILD.
America’s Flyway Corridors
Colored areas indicate Migration Corridors
National Wildlife Refuge
Administrative Flyway Boundary
There are more than 540 refuges
in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
More than 300 of these
units are open to hunting.
For more information on refuges
that are open to hunting;
please see <http://hunting.fws.gov>.
For more information on migratory
bird management, including
nesting and breeding surveys,
hunting regulations and
population status, please see
<http://migratorybirds.fws.gov>.
Winter 2003
