News Archive:
THE STATE FOUNDATION SEEKS TO REPLENISH S.C. DUCK POPULATION
Published on: 03/05/2006 Section: SPORTS Edition: FINAL Page: C11 By PATRICK OBLEY, Staff Writer Column: PAT ROBERTSON
TIRED OF SEEING their duck hunting opportunities diminish due to a dwindling number of ducks migrating into the state each year, a group of South Carolina duck hunters decided to take matters into their own hands.
A year ago this month hunters from across the state joined to create the Flyway Foundation, whose stated mission is to "increase the population of migratory waterfowl through sound management for the improvement of waterfowling."
In the past 12 months, the group has used its money and hard work to take the first steps in what they hope will reverse the trend of decreasing migratory waterfowl wintering in South Carolina.
They are banking on the premise that the answer - for mallards, at least - lies in improving nesting habitat in an area not normally associated with mallard production. A foundation news release estimated the South Carolina wintering mallard population declined from 250,000 in the 1950s to fewer than 10,000 today.
"Our project coordinator, Bunn Tyson, examined the most recent banding data on mallards to find out if there has been a change in mallard migratory patterns and to determine what areas of the North were still producing ducks that winter in South Carolina," said Phillip Lowe of Florence, the foundation's president.
"What we found was that the Great Lakes area held the highest concentration of mallards that migrate to South Carolina. More specifically, 59 percent of the mallards that winter in South Carolina come from Pennsylvania and Ontario."
However, mallard production in the Great Lakes area was much lower than in the Prairie region of the Dakotas and western Canada. Seeking to improve mallard production in that area, foundation members adopted the design for the Delta Waterfowl Association's "henhouse," which was used in the Prairie Pothole Region.
"The Delta henhouse increases nesting success from 20 percent to 80 percent by eliminating predation of the hen or her eggs by foxes, raccoons, skunks and other predators," Lowe said.
The henhouse is a cylindrical tube made by rolling a piece of fence wire and filling it with fresh nesting material, such as straw. The foundation built 400 of the henhouses for placement around Lake Erie.
Then the group entered into cooperative agreements with the Pennsylvania Game and Fish Commission and with a group called Bird Studies Canada in Ontario, sending the nesting tubes to the area for distribution and maintenance by a graduate student who will study nesting success for his thesis.
"What is neat about this is that you will learn something the first year, but normally the utilization of the henhouses goes up dramatically in the second year," said Lowe, who served on the S.C. Department of Natural Resources Board in the mid-'90s and as chairman of the board's Wildlife and Freshwater Fishery Committee.
He said the reason is the birds that nest successfully in the henhouse will come back to it the following year and the young birds hatched in the henhouse will return to the same area to nest.
"We expect some success this year," Lowe said, "but next year we expect a dramatic increase in nesting success."
The foundation also has a project underway with the S.C. DNR to study mottled duck nesting success in the henhouses - providing 20 to the Bear Island and Santee Coastal Reserve waterfowl management areas on the coast. A small population of mottled ducks, which are native to the Gulf Coast, has been established on the South Carolina coast.
In addition, the foundation has attained 501-C3 status with the Internal Revenue Service, allowing it to accept tax-free donations, but Lowe cautioned the group is not looking to siphon off money currently going to other wildlife organizations.
"All of us on the foundation board are Ducks Unlimited sponsors or life sponsors or members of Delta Waterfowl. We are not looking to decrease anyone's contributions to other organizations, but our goal is to help the duck situation specifically in South Carolina," he said.
"If these henhouses do as well in the Lake Erie area as they did in the prairies, we are hoping a lot of private individuals up there will put them out."
The foundation will present its case to the DNR Board at the March 17 meeting and will have a booth at the Palmetto Sportsmen's Classic March 24-26 at the State Fairgrounds. For information, visit the group's website: www.flywayfoundation.org.
