Upland Accessibility by Breeding Duck Pairs in the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture Area

Duck pair density information was predicted from models developed with breeding mallard, northern pintail, blue-winged teal, gadwall, and northern shoveler pair data colleded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) National Wildlife Refuge System Four Square Mile Breeding Waterfowl Survey. Models of the relationship between duck breeding pairs and wetland characteristics and dynamics were developed by the FWS's Habitat and Population Evaluation Teams in Regions 3 and 6, and US Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center and applied to wetlands mapped by the FWS National Wetlands lnventorv. GIS modeling techniques were used to apply an accessibility model based on the distance breeding hens will often travel from breeding territories to chosen nest sites (i.e. travel distance). The information presented represents the density of hens that have access to approximately 40 acre landscape units using a travel distance of 2 miles.