It's time to bring in the cavalry for rescue of the wetlands

on February 05, 2012 at 4:30 AM

Every hunting season, I'm reminded why the pioneers of America's environmental movement -- legends like Theodore Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold and Gifford Pinchot -- were hunters and anglers: People whom hunt and fish are among the few humans who are active participants rather than spectators in their ecosystem -- today more than ever.

marshall04.jpgFederal regulations protecting the wetlands continue to face attacks in Congress.

When that web of life that provides fish and game is changed, they are among the first to notice the consequences.

A love and understanding of those systems was the driving force behind the life-long crusades of those conservation heroes, crusades that benefited all Americans for generations. When the vast majority of Americans were unaware of the impact changes in those systems, it was the outdoors set that came to the rescue.

Well, it's rescue time again.

That became obvious to this hunter last week with two phone calls after the close of one of our best duck seasons in recent years -- a season made possible by excellent moisture on the northern breeding grounds, the vital habitat responsible for most of our ducks.

The calls went to Dale Hall, CEO of Ducks Unlimited, and John Devney, senior vice president of Delta Waterfowl. The conversations revealed two disturbing truths:

The prairie nesting grounds are dry.


"It's 50 degrees here right now when the average this time of year is about 22, " Devney said from his office in Bismarck, N.D. "We haven't had significant rain since last October, and we've only had dustings of snow -- nothing heavy enough to accumulate.

"The prairies have been drying since last fall, and we're losing wetlands every day we don't get moisture."

Just six months ago, those same prairies from the Dakotas through Canada were flooded from the run-off from a record snow pack and spring rains. Much of that moisture remains in the larger potholes and lakes.

"Even if snow or rains don't come the rest of this winter and spring, there's enough water in the larger potholes and lakes to provide adequate habitat for what is expected to be a large returning class of ducks," Devney said. "But if that's the case, there's no way we'll have the production we've had the last few years."

That's because rain and snow runoff are needed to produce the habitat feature that is the key to the start of a healthy nesting season -- the shallow, temporary wetlands that spread almost puddle-like around the potholes in the spring, and are gone by mid-summer.

Certainly, nesting ducks need the tall, grassy uplands near the potholes to build nests and protect their incubating eggs from predators. And they need the larger, deeper potholes to rear their young.

But the whole process begins with those shallow, temporary puddles. These are the wetlands that heat up in the spring sun and explode with a profusion of invertebrates that provides the protein birds need to recharge after the return migration and to use during the energy-demanding process of producing eggs and rearing young.

When returning prairie nesters such as gadwall, pintail and mallard don't find these fuel supplies in pothole country, they often keep flying to the boreal forests in the north, a habitat far less productive.

This sudden dry spell isn't a shock; the history of that habitat features just such wild swings. But what troubles waterfowl managers is that the regulations which have prevented permanent removal of these areas during dry spells wetlands were lifted in 2006 and 2008 when the Supreme Court ruled the Clean Water Act didn't include those habitats.

Efforts to have those protections restored to the 20 million acres of wetlands affected by passing a restructured Clean Water Act have been blocked in Congress, largely by the GOP majority in the House acting at the behest of industries. Louisiana's delegation has been part of that roadblock.

The Obama administration, which promised so much in this area, hasn't been much help either. A year ago it proposed a new guidance telling federal agencies which wetlands could be protected, but after an extended comment period it hasn't made that definition permanent. Nor has it started the rule-making process required to establish how those wetlands designated by the guidance could be protected.

And Hall pointed out even this proposed guidance doesn't include the prairie potholes, so critical to waterfowl.

"What the guidance would do, as now constructed, would bring back in tributaries and associated wetlands that are connected by hydrology with permanent, navigable water bodies," he said. "While that's great, and we support it, that definition doesn't include the potholes."

Ducks Unlimited has fought back using research to show the pothole region is connected to those tributaries because they are a key factor in recharging the aquifers that feed the tributaries. So far, they haven't won over the White House.

In any event, the only way to prevent those well-funded business lobbies from throwing a new definition back into court would be to pass the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act. But since that shows as much life lately as Elvis, sportsmen's groups and other wildlife advocates are searching for other tools and finding more problems, but some hope.

"Many of the conservation programs in the area of agriculture or what we call 'if-then' agreements tied to subsidies in the Farm Bill, meaning if the farmer gets a subsidy, then he agrees to do this conservation measure," Devney said. "One of the most important is Swamp Buster, which says a farmer receiving certain subsidies under the Farm Bill will not drain wetlands on his property. That's a huge plus for wetlands and waterfowl and other wildlife."

The problem? Congress, in an effort to reduce the cost of farm subsidies, is leaning toward putting the lower budget into risk-management programs -- in other words, crop insurance.

"Traditionally, conservation programs -- including the 'if-then' agreements -- were not tied to crop insurance," Devney said. "So we need to make sure that when the subsidy shake-out is finished, Swamp Buster and other programs in the 'if-then' category are tied to the crop insurance."

Conservation groups are urging sportsmen to contact their Congressional delegations to urge hands off on wetlands.

None of this is what most hunters like to be talking about at the end of duck season. But if people like Roosevelt, Leopold and others hadn't come to the rescue in their time, we might not have a duck season today.