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Fall Crops Better
IWWR also compared breeding success of pintails in spring-seeded and fall-seeded crops. The research produced a compelling argument in favour of fall-seeded cereal crops, such as fall rye and winter wheat, to benefit nesting pintails. On average, pintails hatched one nest for every 72 acres in fall-seeded crops compared with one nest per 1,332 acres in spring-seeded croplands.
Kehoe notes that research provided a firm basis for promoting fall-seeded cereal crops as a ‘pintail-friendly’ cropping alternative in areas where cropland intensification has encroached on traditional pintail breeding areas.
The research convinced DUC that support by farmers and ranchers is key to the restoration of pintail populations.
“There is a bright future for northern pintails if we pursue a habitat conservation strategy that includes partnerships with agricultural producers,” Kehoe says. “Many of the programs which benefit pintails have direct economic benefits to producers and represent sustainable ‘best’ management practices on the range and farm alike.”
Core pintail breeding areas on the Canadian Prairies include about 6.3 million acres of grassland that has been spared the plow due to high drought frequency and low soil fertility. Irrigation and new cropping practices, however, increase the likelihood of this land being broken in the future. Demands for beef are leading to larger cattle herds and more intense grazing pressure.
DUC believes it must ensure this land base remains intact in order to avoid further loss of functioning habitat over the next quarter century – a loss that would negate restoration efforts. Conservation efforts aimed at maintaining that land base are focused on the Milk River Ridge and the Missouri Coteau Initiative in Saskatchewan. Wetland restoration projects are being used in conjunction with water management to secure surrounding grassland. Although loss of upland cover has been particularly detrimental to pintails, DUC knows the importance of wetlands – especially shallow, temporary and seasonal ones that are easiest to drain and are therefore impacted the hardest. Up to 70 per cent of wetlands in the Canadian Prairies have been drained or degraded.
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