[mou] why birders should buy duck stamps

Jim Williams two-jays@att.net
Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:19:05 -0600


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For the past seven years I have been fortunate enough to write about 
birds on a regular basis for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the daily 
newspaper here. A page each week, found in the Home and Garden section, 
is devoted to birds and birders. For my March column subject I chose 
duck stamps. I am sending the column simply because I believe the 
message is important and should be read by as many birders as possible.

Jim Williams
Wayzata, Minnesota

How can you help preserve habitat?
Hunters have long helped protect habitat. Birders need to lend a hand, 
too.

--Apple-Mail-58-1013588710
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Caption: Sedge wrens need wet meadows where sedge often grows. That 
very specific habitat is increasingly scarce.


Three wrens found in Minnesota, all small, brown and feisty -- ready to 
scold should you encroach on their territory -- have a lot in common.

  But they may not share the same future.

House wrens use a wide variety of semi-open habitats, none of which are 
in short supply. This is a common species of wren that can be found in 
orchards, brushy areas and back yards.

The other two wrens -- marsh and sedge wrens -- are dependent on very 
specific habitat, which is becoming increasingly scarce.

As their names suggest, sedge wrens need wet meadows, places where 
sedge often grows. Marsh wrens rely on cattail marshes. Unfortunately, 
many marshes and wet meadows are being drained, plowed and planted. 
And, if you take away a species' habitat, its numbers will undoubtedly 
shrink.

But marsh wrens and sedge wrens are being helped by an unlikely group 
of people: hunters. In fact, wrens should count duck hunters and 
pheasant hunters among their best friends, even though the relationship 
is not intentional.

You probably have heard of the duck stamp and of the hunting 
organizations Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Their aim is to 
protect and restore habitat for ducks and pheasants, but they also help 
wrens and blackbirds and herons and warblers.

Here's how: All waterfowl hunters are required to buy a duck stamp 
(officially called the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation 
Stamp). Money from the sale of this stamp -- an amazing 98 percent of 
the stamp's price -- goes to support the work of the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service. The service operates 540 national wildlife refuges 
nationwide (12 in Minnesota) and purchases or leases what are called 
waterfowl production areas (WPA). Minnesota has 263,505 acres of WPA 
land.

Waterfowl production areas usually contain wet, marshy land surrounded 
by low, grassy meadows, all of which are duck-friendly. Where might one 
go to look for marsh or sedge wrens, red-winged blackbirds or common 
yellowthroats, one of our prettiest warblers? You would head for wet, 
marshy land surrounded by low grassy meadows.

Such land can be found around Pelican Lake in Wright County, on the 
edge of the metro area. Here draining, plowing and building have taken 
their toll on wetlands and grasslands.

Several months ago, 300 acres adjacent to the lake came on the market. 
Developers wanted it. The county got it, then resold the land to the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for use as a waterfowl production area.

Important players in this acquisition were Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants 
Forever, the National Turkey Hunters Association, the Minnesota Deer 
Hunters Association and several local sportsmen's groups. These hunters 
pledged money to cover the county's investment, should that be 
necessary.

Today, the Pelican Lake waterfowl production area includes an 
additional 300 acres that ducks -- and dozens of non-game bird species 
-- can use.

For years, hunters have carried the weight of land acquisition and 
restoration effort. As the saying goes, hunters show up (at meetings), 
speak up (in support of birds and their habitat) and pay up (they buy 
the duck stamp, for one thing).

Birdwatchers seem to lack whatever it is that galvanizes hunters. I'm 
certain that birders care, but we seem unable to express ourselves in 
such an organized fashion.

Birdwatchers don't have to buy either a license or a stamp, but we, 
too, should work to preserve and create habitat. So how should we do 
it?

Well, you don't have to be a hunter to buy a duck stamp. You just need 
$15 -- about the price you'd pay for 50 pounds of black oil sunflower 
seed. The 2006-2007 stamp goes on sale June 30 at your local post 
office. So go out and buy the stamp.

If birdwatchers wait for someone else to start Wrens Unlimited or 
Phoebes Forever, we'll be too late.

end
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