Hunting for Results

The DNR has set new conservation targets and aims to hit them.

By Jason Abraham and C.B. Bylander.
Photography by Bill Marchel

For hunters, the road to success is often paved with gravel.

That was true again June 25, 2004, when some 70 sportsmen and women drove down a gravel road to its end at a former farm northwest of Little Falls. These conservationists-and nearly 10,000 more from all walks of life-had contributed to the Pheasants Forever-led Build a Wildlife Area campaign. On this day, many of the donors had been invited to see what they had bought for the state of Minnesota.

What they saw was simple yet elegant: a shallow marsh, thick stands of hardwoods, and the first blush of a restored prairie. In all, 318 acres of land nestled against Mud Lake, a fishless basin that is among the few that still attract canvasback ducks in Morrison County. The fund-raising campaign nearly doubled the size of the Mud Lake Wildlife Management Area from 400 acres to 718 acres.

"This is what it's all about," says Joe Duggan, vice president of corporate relations and marketing for Pheasants Forever. "People in partnership accomplishing what cannot be accomplished alone."

Accomplishments such as this are at the heart of a new Department of Natural Resources plan called A Strategic Conservation Agenda 2003-2007. The plan, detailed in a 108-page guidebook published earlier this year, describes what the DNR intends to accomplish (conservation targets) and how it will document progress (indicators) in 75 key areas related to natural lands, fish, wildlife, waters, forests, outdoor recreation, and stewardship education. With respect to the 1.1-million-acre WMA system, for example, the DNR will measure success by the number of acres protected, and aims to acquire 5,000 acres per year between 2003 and 2005, and another 11,400 acres by 2007.

"To me, it is like a road map," says DNR commissioner Gene Merriam. "It shows hunters and others where we are, where we want to go, and what we need to do to get there."

What follows is a glimpse of a few of the report's indicators, targets, and strategies related to habitat management, game management, and hunting.

Ruffed grouse. The ruffed grouse is the state's No. 1 upland game species in terms of birds harvested. Minnesota consistently ranks within the top three states for harvest, and is frequently the nation's top ruffed grouse producer.

Ruffed grouse populations tend to rise and fall in a predictable 10-year cycle. At the peak, Minnesota's annual harvest often exceeds 1.2 million birds. The average annual harvest is 600,000 birds.

The conservation agenda establishes an average annual harvest target of 650,000 birds, a number that wildlife managers believe the habitat can sustain. To meet this target, DNR wildlife managers will work with foresters to better manage aspen-key habitat for grouse. Aspen is one of the first tree species to grow after timber harvest. Aspen stands less than 10 years old grow thickly and provide important nesting and brood cover for ruffed grouse.

"With aspen and balsam poplar harvest at record levels, our goal is to ensure that forest habitat used by ruffed grouse and other wildlife is adequately represented across the landscape," says Ed Boggess, DNR Fish and Wildlife policy chief. "Recently we hired a ruffed grouse biologist, a position we have never had before, to look at ways we might improve ruffed grouse surveys and increase the population."

Grouse research biologist Mike Larson will also focus on sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens. (Go to a story in this months Minnesota Conservation Volunteer on the state's first prairie chicken hunt in 61 years)

White-tailed deer. With more than 1 million whitetails in the state, Minnesota's nearly 500,000 deer hunters have been enjoying some of their best seasons ever.

Today hunters shoot four times as many deer as they did in the 1950s. Hunters who once struggled to harvest deer in northern Minnesota often fill their tags easily. In parts of southern and western farmland, hunters may use bonus tags to legally harvest up to five deer.

High deer populations generate more interest in hunting because hunters have a greater chance of success. But high deer densities haven't pleased everyone. On average each year, Minnesota has 19,000 car-deer collisions, which cause an estimated $32 million in vehicle damage. Other problems caused by large deer populations include damage to garden plants, agricultural crops, and forest vegetation, including orchids and other rare plants.

In the coming year, the DNR will ask hunters, farmers, and other interested citizens if they think the deer population is too high or too low in their area. The DNR will also conduct a survey to gauge support for regulations that might increase the opportunity to shoot a buck with antlers that are larger than is currently common. With this information, DNR wildlife managers may set new population goals and consider alternate strategies for managing the harvest. Once the new goals are set, the conservation agenda calls for wildlife managers to maintain those population goals in at least 75 percent of deer management areas.

In places with high deer densities, the DNR will continue to sell antlerless permits to encourage hunters to harvest does, according to Mike DonCarlos, DNR assistant wildlife program manager. "One buck can breed any number of does," he explains. "If you want to control the number of deer, you need to limit the number of does available for breeding."

At the same time as it manages deer population size, the DNR also must address the threat of chronic wasting disease. This fatal disease of deer and elk has not been detected in the state's wild deer, although it turned up in two game farm elk in Aitkin and Stearns counties in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Since 2001 the DNR has tested nearly 15,000 deer carcasses for CWD. The conservation agenda calls for testing about 12,000 harvested deer this hunting season and testing deer from all of the state's 130 hunting permit areas by 2006.

"Though the disease is not known to affect human health, it has the potential to devastate wild deer populations," says DonCarlos. "We are continuing to work with citizens who report 'suspect' deer because the threat is real, our concern is high, and, if the disease is found, we will need to respond quickly to minimize adverse impacts."

Migratory waterfowl. Large rainfall totals in the 1990s filled wetland basins, known as prairie potholes, along the Missouri Coteau in the eastern Dakotas. Duck habitat increased there, and the number of breeding ducks in North America jumped from 25 million in 1990 to nearly 43 million in 1999.

But most of these ducks skirted Minnesota's western border on their migration south. As a result, the state's portion of the Mississippi Flyway duck harvest has declined from one-sixth in the 1970s to one-tenth in recent years. In 2001 the DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Minnesota Waterfowl Association, and Ducks Unlimited produced a plan to address hunter dissatisfaction and restore Minnesota's harvest share to 1970s levels.

That goal, which the conservation agenda reaffirms, will require restoring and maintaining prairie wetland complexes to increase nesting and rearing places for local ducks. The DNR and conservation partners such as Ducks Unlimited and the Minnesota Waterfowl Association will also restore shallow lakes and designate more refuges where ducks can escape hunting pressure during fall migration.

"Our target is to invest in those areas that have the best potential to be high-quality prairie wetland complexes," says Dave Schad, DNR Fish and Wildlife operations chief. "Complexes that are most valuable tend to be at least 4 square miles and consist of temporary, seasonal, semipermanent, and permanent wetlands, plus at least 40 percent grasslands."

Critical to local duck production, prairie wetland habitat complexes attract 30 or more pairs of ducks per square mile. Minnesota's prairie pothole region has just 12 such complexes, located in Lac Qui Parle, Stevens, and Traverse counties. Improving these sites will require additional land acquisition by the DNR or the USFWS. Protection also means enforcing laws to prevent wetlands from unlawful drainage and development.

The DNR also aims to increase local duck numbers by managing more wild rice lakes in north-central and northeastern Minnesota. Currently, the DNR, in cooperation with Ducks Unlimited, keeps the lake outlets free-flowing to improve wild rice crops on about 130 lakes. In the next decade, the DNR plans to manage 170 wild rice lakes, primarily to provide food for local and migrating waterfowl.

To attract more migrating ducks to southern Minnesota lakes, the DNR will continue to remove carp and other rough fish, which stir sediments and ruin aquatic vegetation. In addition, the DNR will continue to work with farmers to change land-use practices that send phosphorus and other pollutants into large shallow lakes where migrating ducks stop to rest.

"Improving Minnesota's waterfowl hunting is a priority," says John Guenther, DNR Fish and Wildlife director. "We recognize we cannot do it alone. Restoring and protecting waterfowl habitat is going to require DNR partnerships with landowners, local and national conservation groups, and other government agencies."

Hunter recruitment. About 15 percent of Minnesotans hunt. That ties the state for fifth place in terms of hunter participation, according to the USFWS. The conservation agenda goal is to double the number of special youth hunts and to maintain the current youth-hunter participation rate as measured by sales of firearms deer hunting licenses. About 35,000 hunters ages 12 to 15 buy those licenses each year.

"This year we offered seven special youth deer hunts and one special youth deer season," says Ryan Bronson, DNR hunting recruitment and retention coordinator. "These hunts, typically outside the regular hunting season framework, make it easier for adult mentors to participate." Bronson said the DNR requires a parent, guardian, or other adult mentor to accompany the young hunters. "The research is clear," Bronson says. "The kids who become hunters and anglers do so when they are taught by someone close to them."

Multiple Priorities. The conservation agenda includes many more goals of interest to hunters, as well as to other Minnesotans who care about conservation and outdoor recreation.

"Our mission is straightforward," says Merriam. "The DNR works with citizens to conserve and manage the state's natural resources, provide outdoor recreation opportunities, and provide for commercial uses of natural resources in ways that create a sustainable quality of life."

The conservation agenda, he says, will help the DNR accomplish this mission by providing a clear picture of "what we are trying to do, why we are trying to do it, and the results we achieve."

At Mud Lake, the DNR and its partners achieved the permanent conservation of habitat for pheasants, waterfowl, wild turkeys, ruffed grouse, and white-tailed deer, as well as many nongame species. It is, said Merriam, a perfect example of "the results we are hunting for."

To see the full text of the conservation agenda, visit the DNR Web site: Strategic Conservation Agenda. The report will be periodically updated as DNR makes progress toward targets. To comment on the report, or for more information about indicators and targets for other key natural resources concerns, send e-mail to the DNR Science Policy Unit: keith.wendt@state.mn.us.

Jason Abraham is a contributing editor to the Volunteer and the staff writer for the divisions of Ecological Resources and Fish and Wildlife. C.B. Bylander is DNR communications director and a frequent contributor to the Volunteer.

Editors: Please include this credit line with all reprints: Reprinted from Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, official magazine of the Department of Natural Resources. Used with permission. To subscribe (free to Minnesota residents), call 888-646-6367 or go to www.dnr.state.mn.us/magazine.