Devil's Lake
Survey shows high wetland, waterfowl abundance in the Devils Lake area
Last summer, FWS crews from Devils Lake surveyed about 3,000 small farmed wetlands, finding water in only 16 of those wetlands. This year, by comparison, “probably 2,900” of those 3,000 wetlands had water.
By Brad Dokken
July 27, 2022 05:01 PM
DEVILS LAKE – It’s looking like a good year for waterfowl production in the Devils Lake region, a complete 180 from last year, when widespread drought decimated wetland conditions.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a survey of small farmed wetlands in the Lake Region and other parts of the Devils Lake Wetland Management District from early May through early June, and bird numbers were “unbelievable, unprecedented,” said Mark Fisher, wildlife biologist for the FWS in Devils Lake.
The Devils Lake Wetland Management District covers eight counties in northeast North Dakota.
“The wetness was off the charts,” Fisher said. “A lot of these small farmed wetlands were full of water all the way through mid June, even into early July. The bird use – waterfowl pair use – on these small farmed wetlands was pretty good, too.
“And then, about two or three weeks ago, we started seeing broods pop out all over the place, so that side of the coin is really good,” he added. “We’ve got some good duck production, and bird densities are very high here.”
Last summer, FWS crews from Devils Lake surveyed about 3,000 wetlands, finding water in only 16 of those wetlands, Fisher said.
“We only did one route because it was pointless to do any more,” he said.
This year, by comparison, “probably 2,900” of those 3,000 wetlands had water, Fisher said. The percentage, or amount of water, in each of those wetlands also “was pretty high throughout all of the spring,” he said.
Biologists for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department encountered a similar scenario in May, when they conducted their 75th annual spring breeding duck survey, which tallied an index of nearly 3.4 million birds – an increase of 16% from 2021.
North Dakota spring duck numbers, wetland conditions, improve from 2021
The spring water index is up 616%, the largest single-year increase on record for the survey.
In addition, the spring water index – a tally of temporary and seasonal wetlands – was up 616%, the largest single-year increase ever recorded for the survey, according to a news release the Game and Fish Department issued in June.
According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor issued Thursday, July 21, no part of North Dakota is in drought, and only a small chunk of Richland County, in the far southeast corner of the state, is even considered abnormally dry.
By comparison, all of North Dakota was in some stage of drought in July 2021.
“We’re taken care of – we’ve got moisture everywhere,” Fisher said.
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