A little help for some web-footed friends 



Courtesy of N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission 



A hunter shoulders his gun for a live target 



Old timers talk of days when ducks 

 and geese were so thick they shielded 

 the sun like clouds over Currituck and 

 Pamlico Sounds. No longer does that 

 happen, they say. But many popula- 

 tions, once on the brink of extinction, 

 are on the upswing again, and they 

 owe their revival to state and federal 

 wildlife managers and conservation 

 groups like Ducks Unlimited. 



The N.C. Wildlife Resources Com- 

 mission, as part of its management 

 scheme, operates 21 impoundments, 

 encompassing several thousand acres, 

 to provide suitable habitat for water- 

 fowl. Dennis Luczcz says the water- 

 fowl impoundments or man-made 

 marshes are dyked areas where the 

 water level is controlled with pumps. 

 The water level is maintained at levels 

 that encourage the growth of aquatic 

 plants that are the prime diet for many 

 waterfowl. Most of the impoundments 

 are shallow, brackish water marshes, 

 Luczcz says. 



The state also manages a few green- 

 tree impoundments in the Croatan 

 Forest. Under the green-tree system, 

 low-lying hardwood forests are dyked 

 and flooded with water during late fall 

 and winter (during this period the 

 water is not harmful to the hardwoods' 

 root systems). These green-tree im- 

 poundments are rich in acorns and 

 seeds, another food source for ducks. 



Luczcz says the impoundment 

 system is a costly one to maintain, but 

 funds are provided by fees from 

 gameland permits, hunting licenses 

 and taxes on firearms. Some biologists 

 say the state could do more for water- 

 fowl habitat if state legislators would 

 pass a state duck stamp (in addition to 

 the federal duck stamp fee presently 

 paid to hunt waterfowl). But 

 legislators are hesitant to add the ad- 

 ditional fee. 



Besides managing waterfowl im- 

 poundments, the state wildlife com- 

 mission also conducts aerial surveys to 

 count waterfowl, investigates disease 

 outbreaks and sets the season for 

 waterfowl hunting. Luczcz says the 

 hunting seasons don't change much 

 from year to year because waterfowl 

 populations don't change quickly. 

 "We look at the overall trends in water- 

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