From Concept to Implementation: Moving Towards Coherence in Waterfowl Management

1. From Concept to Implementation:Moving Towards Coherence in Waterfowl Management Jim Ringelman Ducks Unlimited, Inc.

2. Waterfowl management… a complex business

3. Harvest Habitat

4. Harvest Habitat Habitat affects size of waterfowl populations

5. Harvest pressure affects use of habitat Harvest Habitat Habitat affects size of waterfowl populations

6. Harvest pressure affects use of habitat Harvest Habitat Habitat affects size of waterfowl populations Perceived desires of hunters drive harvest management decisions Hunters

7. Harvest pressure affects use of habitat Harvest Habitat Habitat affects size of waterfowl populations Perceived desires of hunters drive harvest management decisions Realized and potential harvest opportunity affect hunter satisfaction Hunters

8. Harvest pressure affects use of habitat Harvest Habitat Habitat affects size of waterfowl populations Perceived desires of hunters drive harvest management decisions Realized and potential harvest opportunity affect hunter satisfaction Habitat affects hunter satisfaction by providing places to hunt and determining the distribution and abundance of birds Hunters

9. Harvest pressure affects use of habitat Harvest Habitat Habitat affects size of waterfowl populations Perceived desires of hunters drive harvest management decisions Hunters provide financial and political support for habitat programs Realized and potential harvest opportunity affect hunter satisfaction Habitat affects hunter satisfaction by providing places to hunt and determining the distribution and abundance of birds Hunters

10. How well do we understand the interactions?

11. How well do we understand the interactions? • How important is one relative to the others? • Do we understand the underlying drivers? • What are the implications to waterfowl management if one or more linkages weakens or disappears? • Is there a need for structured decision-making to ensure coordination and coherence?

12. Turning Point Question When you have a choice of whether or not to use information from models to make management decisions, you: • Use models a little • Use models some; mostly other factors • Give equal weight to models and other factors • Use models heavily, along with other factors • Use models almost exclusively

13. Intuitive (implicit) models often create confusion and controversy • The Adaptive Harvest Management lesson • Biological uncertainties • Agree on process; competing models • The scaup controversy • Why restrict hunting when harvest has nothing to do with the scaup decline? • A need to incorporate habitat variables • We’re going to lose diving duck hunters and destroy waterfowling traditions • A need for hunter objectives

14. Desired outcomes from structured decision-making • Coherentobjectives • Harvest, habitat, and hunter objectives that all flow together • Coherent models • Integrated models that link habitat changes to demographic changes to continental population status to harvest potential

15. Desired outcomes from structured decision-making • Coherent monitoring • Monitoring of habitat, population, harvest, and hunter satisfaction in an integrated way • Coherentmanagement actions • Habitat management, harvest regulations, and interactions with hunters, all of which are mutually reinforcing

16. Implications of structured decision-making • Coherence will require explicit, multiple objectives • Multiple objectives will lead to multiple tradeoffs • Structured decision-making offers: • Transparent goals and assumptions • The opportunity for formal, integrated models • A greater opportunity for learning • Increased management efficiencies

17. Where to from here? • Explore linkages among harvest, habitat and hunters • Mike Runge – harvest in the context of habitat and hunters • John Eadie – habitat in the context of harvest and hunters • Andy Raedeke – hunters in the context of habitat and harvest • From the established/familiar to the un-established/less familiar; not necessarily in rank order of importance!

18. Expectations • Think strategically, not tactically • Don’t lose sight of the big picture • Be open-minded and objective • Be inquisitive and creative • Be a participant, not an observer • Keep expectations realistic • May not leave with solutions • Hope to identify a clear path forward • Complex, difficult task

19. The potential upsides… • “Better” waterfowl population and habitat objectives • Derived from explicit estimates of the quantity of birds desired for harvest, and in consideration of environmental and social objectives • “Simpler” hunting regulations • Potential for a harvest strategy that does not chase populations in response to uncontrollable, short-term environmental conditions • “More effective” management • Coordinated population, habitat, and hunter objectives lead to more efficient use of staff and help stretch shrinking budgets