Dragonfly program and survey set for Friday night and Saturday at Norris Camp

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Dragonflies and spaghetti are on the menu if the road takes you to Norris Camp, headquarters of Red Lake Wildlife Management Area, this weekend.

Gretchen Mehmel, manager of Red Lake WMA, sent me a flyer yesterday promoting a dragonfly program on tap this weekend at the WMA. It starts Friday night with a 7 p.m. potluck supper and program. The agenda includes an introduction to what’s billed as the “Minnesota Odonata Survey Project.”

Odonata is a new word in my vocabulary, but in lay terms, it’s the scientific name for a carnivorous order of insects that includes dragonflies and damselflies.

These insects eat mosquitoes, among other things, so all of us should be appreciative of the fine work they do. That’s especially true this year, as wet conditions have brought the mosquitoes out in force.

Saturday, participants will head outside for a field survey day that’s scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There’ll be a spaghetti supper at 6 p.m., followed by an evening program at 7 focusing on dragonflies and their nymphs.

Mehmel says several volunteers from the Minnesota survey project will be coming up for the programs and survey, but the event is open to everyone, and membership in the Odonata Survey Project isn’t required.

Norris Camp is located south of Roosevelt, Minn., in the heart of Beltrami Island State Forest. For more information on the dragonfly weekend or other activities at Norris Camp, contact Mehmel at (218) 783-6861.

To see the flyer,which includes driving routes to Norris Camp, click here: Dragonfly flyer_2013 (1)

Conservation groups praise Senate farm bill

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Conservation groups are praising the Farm Bill the U.S. Senate passed Monday for its strong conservation title.

The Senate passed the version 66-27.

The groups were especially pleased with the bill’s inclusion of a national Sodsaver program to reduce grassland loss and a provision that “re-couples” conservation compliance with crop insurance.

Dale Hall, CEO of Ducks Unlimited, called the two measures “tremendous steps forward in slowing the devastating trend of wetland and grassland habitat loss.

“Our nation is currently experiencing a rate of wetland and native prairie loss not seen since the Dust Bowl,” Hall said in a statement. “These proactive programs will benefit humans and wildlife by ensuring clean drinking water, lessening the impact of floods, slowing the rate of habitat destruction and keeping working farms and ranches productive.”

“The national Sodsaver provision in the Senate bill will conserve native prairies, one of the most imperiled ecosystems in North America,” said Bridget Collins, agriculture policy coordinator with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “The combined pressure of high commodity prices and land values has resulted in these grasslands being converted at an unacceptably high rate. In addition to the conservation values, the national Sodsaver provision provides important protections for both ranchers and taxpayers.”

With the Senate bill out the door, all eyes now turn to the House, which faces a rapidly closing window of time to advance its own Farm Bill. Dave Nomsen, vice president of government affairs for Pheasants Forever, said the 2008 Farm Bill expires Sept. 30 and extending it would “irreversibly change the face of private lands conservation, threatening the existence of conservation programs that landowners have relied on for decades.

“Sportsmen and landowners are joining to urge the House to commit to advancing a forward-thinking Farm Bill as soon as possible,” Nomsen said in a statement.

To read more about the Farm Bill’s conservation components, click here.

N.D. duck index dips, but remains well above long-term average

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The numbers are in, and North Dakota’s annual spring duck survey shows an index of 3.9 million birds, down 17 percent from last year, but still 73 percent above the long-term average since 1948.

Blue-winged teal and gadwalls saw the largest declines, down 38 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

“Blue-wings are coming off near-record highs, so it’s not unexpected to see the drop,” said Mike Szymanski, waterfowl biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck. Both species also remain higher than the long-term average — blue-winged teal by 42 percent and gadwall 59 percent.

Scaup numbers were up, while mallards, pintails, shovelers and canvasbacks essentially were unchanged.

Surprisingly, perhaps, the spring water index was up only slightly from 2012, which was a dry year. Timing could be part of it, because many shallow wetlands were on the verge of drying up the week the survey was conducted.

The picture likely has changed with the heavy rains that have fallen in the past couple of weeks.

“The somewhat poor wetland conditions probably resulted in losing ducks to Canadian nesting grounds,” Szymanski said. “A big factor was probably that our smaller, shallow wetland basins were not holding much water throughout much of the state and the larger wetlands were all frozen when ducks were migrating through North Dakota.”

Szymanski said water conditions were much better in the northern half of the state.

“Duck numbers were down roughly 30 percent in the south central and southeastern areas of the state due to dry conditions,” he said in a news release. “However, breeding and renesting conditions aren’t reflected well in our data this year as most of the state got several inches of rain the week following our survey. That won’t change duck numbers, but it will mean better conditions for breeding and raising young.”

Szymanski said loss of land in the Conservation Reserve Program was evident, and massive stretches of grass have been coverted to cropland.

“The loss of grass will hurt production of ducks and other grassland nesting birds,” he added. “However, the recent overly wet conditions will also help bridge the gap a little bit for ducks.”

Breeding was running behind from previous years as more pairs were present and nesting was just getting underway during the survey, Szymanski said. “But we won’t really know how the ducks did until we conduct the July brood survey.”