"Duck Dividends"
May 2008

If you watch TV, listen to the radio or read the paper you must be aware of what’s going on with our economy. If not, you need to pull your head out of the sand and get caught up on the news. For the rest of you, who are in touch, you may find this month’s column of some interest.

Whether it’s an IRA, 401K or outright investing, throughout the past several months the stock market has been shaky … to say the least. Several companies have issued more stock to raise capital and others have cut their dividends or eliminated them completely, in an effort to make ends meet and turn the company margins around. If drastic change is needed for the economy, could it not be true for some of our resources, like ducks?

Don’t get me wrong, I realize ducks don’t trade like the stock market, but they are a commodity of sorts. Think about it, numerous catalogs; both in print and online rely in part on duck numbers for their bottom line profits. What about the retail stores? It doesn’t matter if it’s a mom and pop operation across town or one of the mega stores, almost all of them have waterfowl departments or waterfowl gear, guns and shells and without reasonably good duck numbers, sales will go down in those departments. So how are our duck numbers doing?

Early pond counts aren’t due out for another several weeks or a month or so, but from emails I have received from friends in the breeding areas, they could use more water. Water is a crucial factor for the annual hatch and no matter what Delta Waterfowl or Ducks Unlimited do for, or contribute to, the ducks they cannot control Mother Nature. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going so far to say we’re facing lower hatch numbers at this point, but I do believe additional water will provide better results and I am worried about what the early pond counts will tell us.

Grain prices are higher than they have been in years, if not higher than ever. Rice has already seen rationing of sorts in a few of the larger food stores and some foreign countries are facing serious food shortages. The Bio-fuel industry has also seen a tremendous push; further reducing the amount of grain available for human consumption and animal feed. It’s no wonder farm owners and operators want to take advantage of every inch of available ground, in an effort to increase their crop yield. Farmers throughout the U.S. and Canada are entitled to make a profit just like everyone else, but should they do so at the risk of waterfowl habitat?

As a business owner, I understand farmers pushing their ground to its maximum potential, trying to increase profits, or at least make a profit. From a waterfowl hunter’s perspective, I also understand the need for good habitat, especially in nesting areas. Even if Mother Nature blesses the hatch with plenty of water, the ducks still need suitable places to nest and much of that nesting area comes from farmland. Farmland, more of which has been tilled under to expand fields for planting, drastically reduces the nesting acreage. So what’s a fair solution for both farmers and hunters?

ALUS may be the solution, or at least one giant step in the right direction. ALUS stands for Alternative Land Use Services and is often called “The Farmer’s Conservation Plan.” In short, ALUS is a CRP-type program, designed to protect grasslands and wetlands at the landscape level across Canada. According to Delta Waterfowl President Rob Olson, “Without CRP-type programs like ALUS, the future of waterfowl hunting in America as we know it is unsustainable.” Olson went on to say; “That may sound like a harsh analysis, but it’s the truth.”

The ALUS concept, endorsed by farm groups across Canada, was originally designed by Delta Waterfowl and Manitoba’s Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), one of Canada’s primary farm organizations. Currently there are ongoing ALUS demonstration projects in Manitoba and Ontario, but ALUS has not been adopted as a national farm policy across Canada. I would venture to say, Canada must be somewhat like the U.S. when it comes to governmental programs … it’s hard to get the necessary people to agree on implementation, much less a time frame for such implementation.

Even though national implementation of ALUS is an ongoing effort in Canada, progress has been made and a lot of it. In late April Delta Waterfowl announced, “Prince Edward Island is the First Province to Adopt ‘ALUS’ as a Program”, which could be a huge step toward nationalization of the program. Delta’s President Olson said; “The ALUS announcement in Prince Edward Island offers hope for the future, but it’s not the end of the story.” “We still have a lot of work to do before we reach our ultimate goal of having ALUS adopted as a national farm policy across Canada.” “When that happens—and I believe it will—American hunters will be among its chief beneficiaries.”

While the U.S. economy continues to struggle with rising fuel cost, outrageous grocery prices and an unstable stock market, I see a small light at the end of the tunnel. That light may not affect everyone, but from a duck hunter’s standpoint the ALUS announcement, from the Prince Edward Island providence, has the potential of paying big … Duck Dividends … for the American waterfowl hunter in years to come.

Charles “HammerTime” Snapp
www.arkansaswaterfowl.com
snapp1@sbcglobal.net  
www.waterfowler.tv