First, a clarification of the term flyway states is needed. DU has a Continental Conservation Plan (available for review at www.ducks.org) that places levels of priority on various conservation regions in North America. There are 5 areas of Level I (Highest) Priority, including the Central Valley of California, Gulf Coastal Prairie (includes the Gulf Coast marshes), the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Prairie Pothole Region (U.S. and Canada), and the Western Boreal Forest of Canada. Collectively these 5 areas provide breeding, winter or migration habitat to much of the continental population of waterfowl, and unfortunately, each region has suffered from a high degree of land use changes that have negatively affected their abilities to provide habitat for waterfowl. Remaining areas of North America are classified into lower priority levels (Levels 2-5) based upon importance to waterfowl, threats to the habitat in these systems, and other factors. Hence, as a whole, DUs conservation work is targeted to the areas that are most important to the conservation of continental populations. We do not have intensive conservation programs in all flyway states, because many states have only lower level habitat priorities. In most of these states, MARSH (Matching Aid to Restore States Habitat) is the only program DU offers (MARSH is discussed below).

DU conservation programs are based on sound science and extensive conservation planning to meet the annual cycle needs of waterfowl in North America. DU is a waterfowl conservation organization. In order to conserve waterfowl, DU and all of its conservation partners have to work in all high priority waterfowl habitat areas that have been affected by land use changes, drainage, hydrological alterations, etc. Some of these areas are discussed above, and in virtually every case, significant losses and alterations of habitat have occurred. The combined effects of these losses, to include those on prairie breeding areas (not discussed above), limit waterfowl populations. Most research suggests that continental populations (or at least mid-continent populations of prairie nesting ducks) are limited by factors on breeding habitat areas. Does that mean DU and its partners should not work on migration and winter habitat? Absolutely not!

Conservation planning models tell us approximately how much habitat we need should breeding populations reach and consistently stay at NAWMP goals. Many important wetland systems (e.g., Rainwater Basin, MAV, Gulf Coast, etc.), if not most, currently have shortfalls in foraging habitat based upon the best information we have from which to develop plans. Further, even if habitat goals for a particular region are achieved, long-term protection of these areas is not assured. It is difficult if not impossible to predict future land use patterns over the long term (say decades). It would be a very serious mistake to assume winter habitat will always be adequate and never limit waterfowl populations regionally, and perhaps even continentally. We have opportunities to protect, restore and enhance habitat NOW, and to positively influence land use practices to the benefit of waterfowl populations NOW. To ignore these opportunities, or to ignore winter and migration habitat conservation programs as unnecessary would be both foolish and not in the interest of conserving waterfowl populations for future generations.

Waterfowl migration is influenced by weather, mainly because weather conditions determine food availability. When mid-latitude regions, or, as happened this year, northern areas, have excessively mild winters, traditional wintering areas are significantly under-utilized by ducks. Under more severe winter weather patterns, wherein the ice line is somewhere in the range of latitude for Missouri or northern Arkansas or further south, use of MAV and Gulf Coast habitats may be expected to be excessive such that birds may actually eat out food resources from some areas before having to move on to other areas. Conservation programs of DU and our partners serve primarily to allow birds to exercise options that they had historically, wherein they respond to deteriorating habitat conditions caused by snow and ice by moving further south. In warm years, when food availability is fair to good at higher latitudes, many birds dont move as far south as they do in cold winters when snow and ice make food unavailable. It is in these cold years, or even most average years, that habitat provided by DU and its partners in the MAV and Gulf Coast become increasingly important.