NORTH DAKOTA 
Weather and Water Conditions - 
Although the winter of 1954-55 was considered to be a relatively open 
one over much of the State, sufficient precipitation occurred in the form of snow 
to begin filling the water areas when the break-up took place during the first 
week in April. Precipitation during March was well below normal, however, and 
the scant rains of April and the fore-part of May barely maintained water levels 
throughout most of the State. Only in the north-central portion of North Dakota, 
where heavy rains of the previous fall and the late spring snows created near- 
flood conditions, did the water levels remain stable. It is in the northern one- 
half of the State where the breeding waterfowl inventory disclosed the significant 
increase in our waterfowl population. The southern one-half of North Dakota 
experienced moderate drought conditions and did not attract and hold the usual 
number of breeding waterfowl in 1955. 
July was hot and dry. Water areas began disappearing rapidly but 
sufficient water remains throughout the waterfowl producing region of the State 
to ensure the successful development of the waterfowl broods. 
Breeding Population Indices - 
The 1955 breeding waterfowl inventory in North Dakota disclosed an 
increase of 35.7 percent from that of 1954. The population still remains 14. 3 
percent less than the breeding population established for the previous five-year 
average, however. 
Table 1 will indicate the trends in North Dakota's breeding waterfowl 
populations. 
The apparent increase in the 1955 breeding population must be 
tempered somewhat due to an obvious error in the scaup index. At no time 
since investigations were begun in North Dakota has the scaup population 
approached, much less exceeded, that of the mallard. The census work in 
1955 was conducted too early chronologically. During the census period the 
scaup migration was still underway and this species was therefore represented 
in numbers well beyond that of the actual population which remained to breed 
in this State. 
If the scaup population index is removed from the 1955 and previous 
years' census data, the change of the 1955 index from the previous five-year 
average is -24.1 percent and +18.7 percent from 1954. These figures are 
believed to be a more accurate representation of the population changes which 
actually occurred. 
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