volume 32, number 2, 2011

Yukon • Northwest Territories • Nunavut • Alberta • Saskatchewan • Manitoba

western region ( )prairie/boreal

OWynyard's Wetlands Day AmbassadorsOn Feb. 2, 2011, Wynyard Elementary School (WES) celebrated World Wetlands Day by joining forces with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).

Students took part in several activities organized by DUC staff and the school’s Eco Kids Club. The goal of the group was to make a difference to their environment by donating to World Wetlands Day. All money raised was presented to DUC to invest in wetland habitat projects in the area.

DUC staff gave a short presentation on the importance of wetlands and how each student can play a vital role in keeping our wetlands healthy. As well, the students were asked to colour a wetland scene. The pictures were placed around the school along with reasons why wetlands are important.

At a general assembly, one picture was chosen at random, and that individual was given the title of “World Wetlands Day Ambassador” for 2011 and was presented with a plush wetland toy and a framed certificate. The celebration ended with the entire student body standing and loudly replying “I can” when asked who can make a difference in the health of our wetlands.

Yvonne Chorney, a local teacher who heads up the Eco Kids Club, expressed her appreciation at being able to work with DUC in this day of celebration. She was particularly pleased with how well the educational information on the DUC website fit into the school’s core curriculum. S

LLongtime supporters of conservation, the Johnson family of Elkhorn, Man., signed a conservation agreement with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), protecting 1,040 acres of habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife in perpetuity. An official dedication ceremony hosted by Tundra Oil and Gas Partnership and DUC celebrated this important project on the Johnsons’ bison ranch recently.

“We live in an area with a great deal of marginal land that shouldn’t be annually cropped,” says Darren Johnson, speaking on behalf of his family. “We have a bison herd that can better use the land and can coexist with waterfowl and other wildlife. Keeping livestock and other animals on the land improves the soil. We’re not just livestock producers, we’re also soil farmers.”

Tundra Oil and Gas and Ducks Unlimited Canada have a unique partnership that promotes conservation agreements in Manitoba and Saskatchewan to show how profitable business ventures like commercial agriculture and resource extraction can be complementary with maintaining healthy habitats for wildlife and people.

“Owning land is something that comes naturally to people in Manitoba and keeping the land healthy and productive is the life’s work for many landowners, just like the Johnsons,” says Mark Francis, DUC head of habitat retention out of Brandon. “I think everybody’s long-term goal should be to improve the production of their land. Conservation agreements, made possible with partnerships like the one we have with Tundra, are tools landowners can use to meet their long-term conservation goals.”

Conservation agreements protect the natural features on the land and ensure a healthy landscape for future generations to enjoy. This agreement is a natural fit for the Johnsons’ bison operation, as the 171 existing and restored wetlands stretching across 10 quarter sections provide adequate water for the herd and ultimately maintain and increase the quality of their land.

The Johnsons were first part of DUC habitat protection initiatives in 1988 with the construction of the Niso Creek wetland project located on some of their land. Large wetland projects like this were designed to ensure permanent brood-rearing sites for waterfowl – especially during years of drought.

The Johnsons have chosen to operate in a manner where farming and wildlife can coexist, which is not always the case in an agriculture-dominated landscape. Currently more than 70 per cent of the wetlands in southwest Manitoba have been totally drained or severely degraded, having a profound effect on waterfowl and the ecological goods and services provided by wetlands and their associated habitats. These environmental benefits include groundwater recharge, erosion, flood and drought control, storing greenhouse gases that could otherwise add to climate change, and recreation and other ecotourism opportunities.

Several other conservation projects are located around the Johnson farm, providing a mosaic of secure habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.

Funding for this and other conservation agreement projects in the prairie pothole region of Manitoba and Saskatchewan is generously provided by Tundra Oil and Gas Partnership through the Healthy Prairie Landscapes Initiative. S

w e s t e r n r e g i o n ( p r a i r i e / b o r e a l )

Johnson family honoured for Conservation Agreement

Darren Johnson with three of his yearling “pets” on his family’s bison operation in southwest Manitoba.

(L-R) DUC Manitoba director Michael Leech, Tundra Oil and Gas Partnership president Dan McLean and the Johnson family stand on their land that now has a conservation agreement on it to protect the habitat for future generations.

MGraze now or graze later…do ducks care?

Make your vote count, naturally!

LLast summer, the Manitoba Water Council hosted 22 open houses in 11 communities across the province to seek Manitobans’ perspectives on wetlands. Manitobans responded with over 450 questionnaires, 27 written submissions and over 50 formal verbal presentations. On World Wetlands Day (Feb. 2), the Manitoba Water Council released its “What We Heard” document.

“The resounding message we heard was that if significant action is not taken, wetlands will continue to be lost. Many Manitobans feel that a comprehensive, government-wide framework is needed to address the many issues facing wetlands. This framework should provide a blueprint for consistent decision-making, and provide protection to wetlands that are currently threatened and also provide the vision and strategy needed to protect wetlands from current and future threats.” – Manitoba Water Council, January 2011

The full text of the council’s report can be found on its website (www.manitobawatercouncil.ca) and is well worth the read. S

Report Released

TThis fall, we are heading into provincial elections in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We all have an opportunity to keep wetlands on the political agenda. Elections are a great opportunity to discuss the future of wetlands and environmental priorities with all prospective candidates and parties. It’s time to let them know they need to make wetland conservation, and by extension, our quality of life, a higher political priority.

Many people are deeply concerned about wetland loss. The task now is to find ways to protect what wetlands remain while compensating wetland landowners for the environmental benefits they are providing society. This all begins with an effective and comprehensive wetland policy for each of the provinces. S

Many farmers graze their cattle on Prairie grasslands, but not grazing properly, or overgrazing, can harm range health and the ability of the land to produce forage for livestock and provide important nesting cover for ducks.

Research supported by Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) suggests duck nesting success is highest in pastures that are moderately grazed compared to those that are either idled or heavily grazed.

Overall productivity is highest in lightly grazed pastures where suitable nest sites are more abundant and where there is ample cover. Because pastures are such an important habitat for ducks across the Prairies, DUC used data collected at 95 SpATS sites in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan to further examine how the timing of grazing affects duck nesting.

This study examined how nesting success varied under three different grazing management regimes: (1) pastures grazed during the previous year, but idled during the year of study (grazed-idled), (2) pastures grazed during both years (grazed-grazed) and (3) pastures idled in both years (idled-idled). DUC found too few pastures that were idled in the first year and grazed in the second year to include in this analysis.

What we foundBased on a two-year rotation, DUC

learned that nesting success was highest in grasslands that were grazed in the first year and idled in the second (22 per cent) when compared to nests in grasslands idled (16 per cent) or grazed (14 per cent) in both years.

While nesting success was highest for grazed-idled grasslands, nest densities were lower when compared to ungrazed grasslands, suggesting that overall productivity might be slightly higher in completely idled grasslands.

The study shows that good range management such as deferred grazing during the nesting season is good for healthy Prairie wildlife populations. New research is currently underway to determine the impacts of continuous grazing on waterfowl nesting success.

For further information on this study, contact Bob Emery at b_emery@ducks.ca or 204-467-3238. S

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TThe importance of boreal peatlands is immense, especially when it comes to storing fresh water and carbon, and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is hoping these significant areas will eventually be protected by the development of a peatlands conservation strategy for Manitoba.

A workshop of experts and interested stakeholders was held at the University of Winnipeg, sponsored by DUC, the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) and the Province of Manitoba, to discuss the state of boreal peatlands. Information gathered from the participating experts and interest groups will be summarized and provided to the Province to help it move ahead with a peatlands conservation strategy.

“One of the most easily recognizable values of peatlands is that they hold large amounts of fresh water, but the storage of carbon is increasingly recognized as being of key importance. Canada’s boreal forest and associated peatlands are huge carbon stores and hold twice the carbon found in the tropical forests of the world,” says Chris Smith, DUC manager of industry and government relations for the Western Boreal Program. “Canada has over half the world’s intact boreal forest, so it’s important that these areas are conserved and a Manitoba peatlands conservation strategy is the right action to help ensure this happens.”

Peatlands, often referred to as “muskeg,” are wetlands that have accumulated large amounts of organic material over time. Given the climatic conditions in the boreal forest, this organic material, called peat, keeps accumulating because it doesn’t decompose as fast as dead plant matter is added.

According to the CBI, if all of Canada’s carbon in the boreal forest was released, it would be equivalent to 26 years of global fossil fuel emissions. Therefore, conservation of these areas is extremely important to mitigating climate change.

“A staggering 19 billion tonnes of carbon is estimated to be stored in the peatlands of boreal Manitoba alone,” says Pascal Badiou, DUC research scientist at the Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research. “This amount of carbon is equivalent to almost a century of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and could be released if these wetlands were altered.”

Peatlands are also important to Manitoba’s First Nation communities and many of these areas are considered traditional territory.

Ray Rabliauskas from the Poplar River First Nation, which is located on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, says the people of the area have been there for thousands of years and believe they have the right to speak for peatlands and protect them from major development. The Poplar River area is currently under interim protection under the Parks Act to secure it from major changes.

“The elders here have always known the benefits of the muskeg and protecting it is not an issue to be debated,” says Rabliauskas, who spoke at the public forum on peatlands. “Protecting this area is not a choice as it covers half of our land.”

As a precious water resource, the wetlands of the boreal forest are important habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. Canada’s western boreal forest annually provides breeding habitat for 12 to 14 million ducks. This region also provides critical summer habitat for prairie nesting waterfowl during years of drought.

With all of these benefits provided by the boreal forest, and specifically peatlands, DUC is hopeful a peatlands conservation strategy in Manitoba will ensure the continuation of all of these values for future generations. DUC also stresses that a provincial wetland policy protecting all wetlands in Manitoba is the best way to preserve these important ecosystems and looks forward to the report that will be coming out of the public consultations on wetlands held this summer. S

DUC supports peatlands conservation strategy

Report Released

FSaskatchewan to Arkansas and everywhere in betweenFor almost 75 years Ducks Unlimited Canada has been looking for ways to gather information about waterfowl. The data teaches us something new about the habits of these birds. Now researchers are turning to the latest technology in an attempt to fill in gaps of our knowledge about waterfowl.

Last fall 20 adult hen mallards captured in the Yorkton area were fitted with solar powered GPS back pack transmitters. Another 20 mallards in Arkansas were fitted with the special backpacks. All the birds were released and their movements are

being tracked. The transmitters are able to track the locations each day and are accurate to within 3 meters.

The researchers are hoping the technology will provide the best-ever look at migratory movements of the birds including; resident times and turnover rates on staging areas, and habitat preferences including DU habitat projects. S

RRecently, the City of Whitehorse adopted a revised Official Community Plan (OCP) following consultations with the public and other interested parties. The city’s plan helps guide planning decisions related to development and conservation through policies for all types of proposals including residential, industrial and infrastructure.

Giving a voice to the need for wetland conservation in the community, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) participated in the planning process and provided recommendations on how best to incorporate wetlands into the plan to help sustain the health of Whitehorse’s surrounding watershed. Working with city planners, DUC staff efforts led to key wetland protection measures included in the final plan. These include the recognition of wetland ecosystem services, the adoption of

the mitigation sequence (avoidance, minimization of impacts and compensation), provisions for the cleanup of degraded wetlands and the acknowledgment of the role of wetlands in storing carbon. The full plan is available for review at whitehorse.ca/ocp.

“Whitehorse Mayor Bev Buckway and City Council are commended for their leadership and willingness to integrate wetland values into the OCP,” says Harvey Jessup, DUC’s Yukon head of industry and government relations. “This is a major step forward for our city and offers a great model for other Canadian municipalities to follow.

“We look forward to working with city staff as they develop wetland policies related to the implementation of the OCP.” S

Whitehorse shows wetland conservation leadership

DU Canada biologist Dave Kostersky, releases a female mallard. The bird is outfitted with a tiny GPS transmitter that allows researchers the opportunity to track the migration patterns of waterfowl.

EEach winter, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) volunteers from across Saskatchewan flock to Regina and Saskatoon to attend district workshops. According to the organizers, these workshops are an excellent way for volunteers to learn how the money they raise is invested into wildlife habitat projects throughout the province. The workshops are also a great opportunity for the different chapters to network with each other and share ideas and stories.

This year’s Regina workshop was held on Jan. 22 with more than 60 volunteers representing 13 chapters turning out to enjoy the day filled with conservation presentations, interactive sessions and new fundraising initiatives. The day wrapped up with a banquet complete with samples of this year’s new products on display and made available through various raffles as well as live and silent auctions.

“The energy in the room for the entire day was infectious to say the least,” says Todd Holmquist, a DUC fundraising manager in the province. “Those who came started planning their first chapter meeting dates so they could pass on what they learned from the day.”

One volunteer said, “I really enjoyed the entire day and was particularly excited by what I learned from speaking with other committees during the fundraising session.”

The Saskatoon workshop on Feb. 5 also had an excellent turnout, with more than 80 volunteers representing 22 chapters coming to the Saskatoon Inn to not only enjoy the presentations, but also to meet the newest member of the Saskatchewan fundraising team, Al Smith.

Smith assumed the position from Keith Mackintosh, who is now the regional fundraising manager for Alberta and B.C. All volunteers expressed their sincerest best wishes for Keith in his new role with the ducks. S

The Flyway newsletter is published by Ducks Unlimited CanadaOak Hammock Marsh Conservation CentreP.O. Box 1160, Stonewall, ManitobaR0C 2Z0 tel (204)467-3000 fax (204)467-9028toll-free 1(800)665-DUCK

Please direct your inquiries to the following:Eastern Region Atlantic: Krista Elliot Quebec: Bernard Filion Ontario: Joanne BarbazzaWestern Region British Columbia: Wendy Thatcher Alberta: Anh Hoang Saskatchewan: Tom Jordens Manitoba: Karli Reimer

Flyway production staffCommunications and Marketing Director: Sandy GousseauEditor: Duncan MorrisonAssistant: Deb MenardManager Creative Services: Lindsay Pikta-MarieGraphic Designers: Christa Edwards, Aquila Samson, Jeope Wolfe

© Ducks Unlimited Canada, 2011 Printed in Canada on 100% recycled paper including 100% post-consumer fibres

area ContactsMarketing/CommunicationsKarli Reimer, Manitoba (204) 467-3000 Tom Jordens, Saskatchewan (306) 569-0424 Anh Hoang, Alberta (403) 476-1879Wendy Thatcher, Western Boreal (604) 592-0987

Manager of Operations, ManitobaBob Grant, Brandon (204) 729-3500

Manager of Operations, SaskatchewanBrent Kennedy, Regina (306) 569-0424

Manager of Operations, AlbertaPerry McCormick, Calgary (403) 201-5577

EducationRosemarie Ferjuc, Calgary (403) 476-1877Barb Hanbidge, Saskatoon (306) 665-7356Bob Laidler, Oak Hammock (204) 467-3000

Western Boreal ProgramEric Butterworth (780) 489-8110

Fundraising, Manitoba & SaskatchewanBrent Richards (204) 832-0755

Fundraising, Alberta, NWT & the Yukon Keith Mackintosh (306) 665-7155

publication agreement #40064849

western region ( )prairie/boreal

Saskatchewan district workshops described as “best ever”

Saturday, May 7Lumsden Banquet, Lumsden

Friday, May 13Regina Banquet, ReginaSaskatoon Sponsor Dinner, Saskatoon

Saturday, May 14Melville Banquet, Melville

Thursday, June 2Meadow Lake Sponsor Dinner, Meadow Lake

Friday, June 24Fast Pitch Shootout, Saskatoon

Saturday, August 27Saskatoon Sporting Clay, SaskatoonFort Qu’Appelle Golf Tourney, Fort Qu’Appelle