Bold new plan aims to maximize duck production and put more birds into every fall flight

BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA — Delta Waterfowl is taking the lead for ducks and duck hunters throughout North America by launching the Million Duck Campaign, a bold $250 million initiative to add 1 million ducks to the fall flight every year.

The leadership team of Dr. Scott Petrie, Dr. Frank Rohwer, and Joel Brice announced the plan on July 30 during the Delta Waterfowl Duck Hunters EXPO in Little Rock, Arkansas.

“We’re embarking on the most-ambitious initiative Delta has ever undertaken,” said Petrie, Delta’s chief executive officer. “The Million Duck Campaign is Delta’s innovative, visionary plan to add 1 million ducks annually to the fall flight.”

“Delta Waterfowl has done the research. We have the proven programs to produce ducks — to maximize duck production on key breeding waterfowl habitat. We’re going to raise 1 million more ducks every year, forever, and create a monumental impact for waterfowl conservation in North America.”

Rohwer, president and chief scientist of Delta Waterfowl, has spent his long and distinguished career studying and seeking methods to produce more ducks.

“We work for duck hunters, and I’ve never met a duck hunter who didn’t want more ducks,” he said. “All of my years as a waterfowl scientist have shown me that duck numbers are directly tied to what happens on the breeding grounds. We know that those few months in spring — the breeding season — are the most important to ducks. We need to have high nest success, because nest success drives duck production. Unfortunately, most nests fail to hatch because of predators.”

The prairie landscape — where most ducks breed — has been forever changed by farming and development. We’ve lost so many of our prairie wetlands in the United States, and even more than that in prairie Canada. At the same time, raccoons, skunks and many other mammalian predators have become overly abundant on the prairies. That’s a bad equation for nesting ducks.

During the past 30 years, Delta Waterfowl has developed efficient, effective tools to increase duck production. Installing Hen Houses creates a safe place for mallards to nest out of the reach of most predators. Hatch rates for mallards using a Delta Hen House are remarkably better than for mallards in nearby nesting grass — up to 12 times better. Predator Management has shown impressive increases in nest success, too, often doubling or tripling the number of nests hatched.

“Delta’s duck production programs are the perfect complement to habitat conservation,” Rohwer said. “We want to produce the most ducks possible for our investment of duck dollars. It’s time to put Predator Management and Hen Houses to work on a much larger scale to dramatically increase the number of ducks in every fall flight. The Million Duck Campaign will do exactly that.”

Brice, Delta’s chief conservation officer, leads the organization’s duck production programs.

“Producing a million ducks is an ambitious and exciting goal,” he said. “We’ve been working hard on our plan to deliver on the promise of the Million Duck Campaign. We’re scaling up our duck production work to deliver even more ducks. Our Million Duck Campaign delivery plan calls for the construction, distribution, installation and annual maintenance of 110,000 Hen Houses. In addition, we will boost Predator Management to more than 350 sites across the Prairie Pothole Region. We’re confident, and we’re ready to make a huge impact for ducks and duck hunters. We have a skilled, experienced team of waterfowl biologists and program managers who are ready to put our plan into action. Now, it’s time do it.”

Delta Waterfowl has been working for ducks and duck hunters for the past 110 years. We are The Duck Hunters Organization, which means everything we do is for the benefit of ducks and duck hunters.

“The Million Duck Campaign will support and enhance all of Delta’s work across our four critically important pillars: habitat conservation, research and education, HunteR3 (hunter recruitment and advocacy), and duck production,” Petrie said.

The launch of Delta Waterfowl’s Million Duck Campaign is another historic moment as we strive for abundant waterfowl populations and endless opportunities to hunt throughout North America.

If you would like to join the movement toward Delta Waterfowl’s goal to produce 1 million more ducks every year, forever, visit deltawaterfowl.org today.

Delta Waterfowl is The Duck Hunters Organization, a leading conservation group working to produce ducks and secure the future of waterfowl hunting in North America. Visit deltawaterfowl.org.

For more information, contact Joel Brice at (701) 226-7269 or jbrice@deltawaterfowl.org.