May Habitat Program Updates

Project: Multiple

The Migratory Game Bird Advisory Committee, of which WWA is a member, made its recommendations on project applications for duck stamp funding.  WDNR needs to approve those recommendations before anyone, including WWA, can move forward with project work.  If you are interested in where they money from the duck stamp you buy every year goes, know that it is spread far and wide across the state.  Over the past few years lots of money has been spent on rehabilitating degraded dikes and water control structures on state wildlife areas.  Many of these were constructed over 30 years ago and are in need of repair to properly manage the habitat for wildlife and public use.

Our most robust conversation during the committee meeting was regarding the inclusion of utilizing waterfowl stamp funding for the purchase of equipment for WDNR for management of wetland resources on state land.  In the past, equipment was never a priority as the committee felt that restoring and creating more habitat, and retaining the current habitat we had, was more impactful for successful waterfowl populations.   This year, committee opinion fell across the spectrum on this priority of spending money toward equipment.  WWA was on the end of not supporting equipment purchases with waterfowl stamp funds, as we feel it was not the intent of the stamp program as it was originally designed and sold to conservation groups and hunters.  We don’t disagree that DNR needs certain equipment to effectively manage its properties, but we don’t feel it should be coming out of the waterfowl stamp funds.

Speaking of increasing habitat, I’m working on projects for this year in Jefferson, Washington, Outagamie, Manitowoc, Juneau, Vilas, Fond du Lac, Dodge, Green Lake, Marquette, St Croix and Waushara counties, and may expand into a few other areas depending on how things fall with other potential projects I’m currently looking at.  This is a good reminder that if anyone knows of someone interested in restoring wetland habitat on their property, please have them fill out a project application as we are in the process of permitting the projects for construction this year.

Our water tables are high after a wet fall and now a wet spring.  You will see ponding water in many low areas for long periods due to the increase in the shallow water table which will be great for waterfowl, but it has been a burden on many others such as farmers.  It’s a great time to look around and find unproductive land that might be more suited to wetlands than other activities.  To give you an idea, in the central part of the state, many lakes that were dry or at record lows over the last decade are now at or near record highs.  This should be good for waterfowl production in Wisconsin as it has provided lots of acres of additional water for breeding.