Grassland/Wetland habitat restorations by Save the Hens is
being conducted on existing habitat and is aimed at creating
a habitat that is more duck production friendly.
Save the Hens focuses its funding on two important management tools for enhancing current habitats.
Removing invasive trees and weeds from grass and wetland
habitats.
Seeding existing islands into grass.
Our wetland systems have been degraded in quality ever since settlement times. One of the most notable degradation features is the addition of trees in the prairie landscape. Native prairie was as devoid of trees as it was devoid of large raccoon populations. The trees we are talking about are self seeded wind blown trees. The self seeded trees are located around the high water mark of existing wetlands and unfarmed grass pastures. Studies have shown that nesting waterfowl prefer a treeless habitat. The trees make the wetland unattractive to breeding ducks and roost hunting birds of prey. Some of our prairie habitats are so infested with trees that Save the Hens has targeted these locations for the production of Wood Ducks.
Islands
need our help. Islands suffer the same fate as the
exterior of the wetland with the growth of trees and also
suffer from being flooded during high water years, such as
those of the late 1990’s. Islands have proven to have
the highest nesting densities of puddle ducks ever recorded.
Still they go unmanaged! Even in native prairie times the
ducks preferred these islands and the safe breeding conditions
they offered. Save the Hens is going to manage these island
habitats and maximize the duck production on them.
Maximizing
existing habitat will send more ducks into the migration on
a cost effective basis. These basic enhancements are effective
tools in the fight against nest depredation.
