Habitat and Population Evaluation

Since 1988 the Habitat and Population Evaluation Teams in Regions 3 and 6 have collected data on condition and duck use of a static sample of over 6,000 wetlands. This is one of the largest on longest-term data sets in the world of weather, wetland condition and wildlife use. The proposed project will provide financial assistance for a graduate student investigating the effects of trees, terrain relief, vegetation cover class, watershed land use, weather and other factors on annual duck density. The results of this analysis will inform habitat management and acquisition decisions in the U.S. prairie pothole region of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.