Outdoor Insights: Time to organize a Duck Summit in Minnesota to address dwindling populations

Count Outdoor News among those endorsing Dennis Anderson’s suggestion that the Minnesota DNR should coordinate and host a Duck Summit. Gov. Mark Dayton pitched a Pheasant Summit in 2014, and hunters may actually be enjoying the fruits of those efforts 11 years later.

Last week’s Outdoor News contained an optimistic season outlook for roosters this fall.

As for ducks, despite a forecast from the feds last week that was less dire than expected, the long-term trends for quackers continue to slide.

The estimate of total duck abundance (excluding scaup, or bluebills) from Minnesota’s 2025 Waterfowl Breeding Population Survey was 417,000. That’s 8% above last year’s estimate but 26% below the 10-year average estimate and 32% below the long-term average estimate.

Pond counts are down nationwide, and while those federal duck numbers are roughly flat with a marginal 2024, they’re well off 10-year and longterm averages. Two weeks ago, this newspaper printed a lengthy commentary from retired duck managers citing numerous data points and raising alarms about the status of our waterfowl populations. Their demands for more conservative season regulations clearly are resonating with our readers (see letters to editor).

Twenty years ago, I remember quizzing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service waterfowl managers with other media about declining individual duck species. The retort was that duck management ultimately relied on mallard numbers, and as long as greenheads remained robust, fluctuations among other species wasn’t problematic.

Since then, mallard populations have plunged across the Great Lakes region. Despite that, we have the same liberal seasons we saw 30 years ago, plus new accouterments including an early teal hunt, no more 4 p.m. closure, and two hen mallards daily.

Some folks consider this alarmist “rhetoric,” and they’ll say the huge decrease in waterfowlers means hunters aren’t impacting the birds. But even if that’s true (which I don’t think it is), that’s still bad news.

I don’t want to live in a Minnesota with 50,000 waterfowlers. I remember the days when there were 120,000-plus, and every DU banquet was packed with husbands and wives bidding on live auction shotguns and Terry Redlin artwork to raise dollars for wetlands. We’re watching duck numbers and an entire waterfowling culture swirl the drain, and a Duck Summit is at least a way to acknowledge we have a problem and brainstorm solutions.

MORE COVERAGE FROM MINNESOTA OUTDOOR NEWS:

Minnesota pheasant harvest up, duck harvest and overall hunter numbers down in 2024 small-game survey

Minnesota counties now digging into implications of change to shotgun zone for deer hunting

Chance encounter in the woods leads to completing potential record-breaking set of moose antlers from Minnesota

ROADLESS & LWCF. This space contained an interview with Mike Dombeck on July 4 detailing the former U.S. Forest Service chief’s concerns with the Trump administration’s plans to rescind the long-standing federal roadless rule. On Aug. 29, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published notice to rescind the rule.

The public comment period ends next Friday, Sept. 19. Read the complete notice here. To comment by next Friday, visit here.

This humble scribe already has offered his comment that agrees with Dombeck’s sentiments. To summarize, the feds held 600 meetings and took 1.6 million public comments, with 95% in support of the original roadless rule. The National Forest System already contains approximately 370,000 miles of roads. It doesn’t need any more.

In other D.C. news, the endless tug of war over the Land and Water Conservation Fund took an unfortunate turn last week when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed Secretarial Order 3442. The order narrows eligibility for land acquisitions, inserts more local and state veto power, and opens the door to land transfers to the states. That’s particularly concerning out west.

The first Trump administration heralded the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020 for its LWCF funding. That’s all moot if a secretarial order from this Trump administration hampers its work with red tape. Learn more at Backcountry Hunters and Anglers’ “Take Action” page.

Editor’s Note: Rob Drieslein talked with Dennis Anderson to discuss his idea of a “Duck Summit” on episode 556 of the Minnesota Outdoor News Radio podcast. You can listen to that episode here, or find Minnesota Outdoor News Radio anywhere you get your podcasts.