After a record drought last year and high precipitation this spring, the amount of seasonal and temporary wetlands in North Dakota is up 616% from last year, which is the largest single-year increase on record.
“It’s just a wild swing in water, but the wetland index that we had this year was our second highest, so regardless of the percentage change being skewed by the fact that it was so dry last year, it’s still a very wet spring and wetlands holding water on the landscape are very abundant,” said Mike Szymanski, migratory game bird supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
Game and Fish’s annual spring breeding duck survey estimates there are about 3.4 million birds in North Dakota, which is up 16% from last year and up 38% from the long-term average. Mike Szymanski says the increase in numbers is probably more closely associated with more wetlands, instead of a broader-scale population trend.
“It’s just a wild swing in water, but the wetland index that we had this year was our second highest, so regardless of the percentage change being skewed by the fact that it was so dry last year, it’s still a very wet spring and wetlands holding water on the landscape are very abundant,” said Mike Szymanski, migratory game bird supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
Game and Fish’s annual spring breeding duck survey estimates there are about 3.4 million birds in North Dakota, which is up 16% from last year and up 38% from the long-term average. Mike Szymanski says the increase in numbers is probably more closely associated with more wetlands, instead of a broader-scale population trend.
