Waterfowl Ecology and Management

Since the nineteenth century, much of Suisun Marsh has been managed for waterfowl hunting. The marsh supports among the highest densities of breeding ducks in the world. Ducks banded in the marsh are recovered throughout the Pacific Flyway and North America. The marsh annually hosts over 60,000 wintering waterfowl, but current waterfowl abundance is below the population objective of 300,000 wintering ducks and well below the nearly 370,000 waterfowl that wintered there historically. Long-term population trends for dabbling ducks and geese are declining, diving ducks and swans are stable, and sea ducks are slightly increasing. Maintaining the present diversity and abundance of waterfowl in the face of increasing salinities likely will depend on wetland management for high-yielding seed plants.