NARRATIVE REPORT for Calendar Year 1966 Devils Lake Wetland Management District Devils Lake, North Dakota Permanent Personnel Don R. Perkuchin . Refuge Manager • .. " y.V-'/ CONTENTS Pa^e I. General A. Description of the Area 1 B. Status of the Acquisition Program 1 C. Weather Conditions 2 D. Habitat Conditions 4 II. Wildlife A. Migratory Birds 5 B. Upland Game Birds g C. Other Birds 3 D. Big Game Animals g E. Fur Animals, Predators, Rodents and other Mammals g F. Rare, Endangered and Status Undermined Species g G. Fish 9 H. Reptiles and Amphibians 9 I. Disease 9 III. W.P.A. Development and Maintenance A. Physical Development 9 B. Plantings 10 C. Cultivated Crops 12 D. Collection and Receipts 12 E. Control of Vegetation 12 F. Fires 12 IV. Resource Management A. Grazing 13 B. Haying 13 C. Fur Harvest 14 V. Field Investigation or Applied Research A. Wildlife Management Studies 14 B. Biological Tinkering 14 VI. Easement Administration 14 VII. Public Relations A. Recreational Uses 15 B. Refuge Visitors 15 C. Refuge Participation ^5 D. Hunting ^5 E. Violations 15 F. Safety 17 VIII. Other Items . 17 I. GENERAL Description of the Area Ten counties in northeastern North Dakota (see Figure 1) comprise the Devils Lake Wetland Management District. All of this manage­ ment area lies north of the "Coteau du Missouri" in what we Bureau personnel refer to as the "summerfallow barrens". Nearly level deposits of glacial Lake Agassiz (now called the Red River Valley) are the predominant geological feature of the eastern one-fourth of this district. The remaining three-fourths is mainly the gently to moderately rolling Drift Prairie. Glacial Lake Cando, Devils Lake, and the eastern edge of glacial Lake Souris lie within the Drift Prairie portion. In the northwestern one-third of Rolette County lies the hilly, wooded and shallow lake studded Turtle Mountains. This scenic range of hills generally rises 300 - 400 feet above the adjacent Drift Prairie, with the highest elevations exceeding those at its southern base by 700 feet. Status of the Acquisition Program 1. Fee Title Program As of December 31, 1966, there were 10,655 acres of fee title land paid off (Table 1) as compared to 8,925 acres a year ago. Purchase of fee land was about the same this year as it has been in previous years. The State Legislature passed a resolution opposing the extension of the Federal program for acquiring wetlands. Unless Congress approves the extension of the wetlands acquisition program, which is in considerable doubt at this time, the program will fall far short of the 53,100 acre fee goal here. 2. Easement Program To date easements have been taken on 27,908 acres of wetlands (Table 1) as compared to 75,016 wetland acres on December 31, 1965. The rate of easement purchase this year nearly doubled that of 1965. If the 1966 rate of acquisition continued in future years, the 162,430 wetland acre goal could be reached in 1969. Without the extension of our program after June 30, 1968, we would be about 32,000 acres (or 20 percent) shy of this district's limited easement goal. I 104° 102° -49° — 48t| 47' 46- (S) STATE CAPITAL ® COUNTY SEAT SCALE IP O IP 20 30 40 SO MILES ALL OTHER PLACES HAVING S.OOO OR MORE POPULATION O I 101c 103° 102° 100° 99° 98° 97° 1_ Fig. l NORTH DAKOTA 9210 2 Table 1 FEE TITLE AND EASEMENT ACQUISITION STATUS Fee Title Easement No .Mgmt No. Wetland Total County Units Acres Easements Acres Acres Benson 17 2,449 103 6,692 40,152 Cavalier 7 1,852 191 12,427 74,562 Grand Forks 1 885 3 195 1,170 Nelson 15 1,892 417 27,158 162,948 Pembina - - 1 25 150 Pierce 18 1,071 79 5,147 30,882 Ramsey 9 1,036 254 16,546 99,276 Rolette 7 296 98 6,372 38,232 Towner 6 590 262 17,053 102,318 Walsh 4 584 97 6.293 37,758 Total 84 10,655 1,505 97,908 587,448 C. Weather Conditions Devils Lake vicinity residents will likely long remember 1966 as a year of weather extremes. Long cold spells were the rule for January and February. At Devils Lake the mercury dipped to -15 or colder 18 days in January and 9 days in-February. The maximum temperature was below zero on 13 days in January and 4 days in February. Then came the "blizzard of 'Sb". It began here at about nine o'clock p.m. on March 2 and continued unabated until about six o'clock a.m. on March 5. This storm is considered by the Weather Bureau to be an all-time record blizzard for North Dakota for sustained severity, low visibilities and amount of snowfall (reported at 30.5 inches at Devils Late). Fortunately, during this ferocious storm the temperatures remained above zero. On August 5, a tornado did several hundred thousand dollars worth of damage in the vicinity of the Devils Lake municipal airport. An accompanying hail storm also caused serious crop losses on a few farms near here. Average annual precipitation (Table 2) for the four stations was normal. A truer picture of the precipitation is evident when it is pointed out that precipitation was 1.75 inches below normal at Rugby, .51 and .64 inches above at Devils Lake and Langdon, respectively, and 1.81 inches above normal at Park River. Only a trace of snow fell at Rugby during the March blizzard. Sept­ ember was dry with rainfall averaging 1.22 inches below normal in the district. Table 2 WEATHER DATA Precipitation Devils Lake Langdon Park River Rugby Average January .25 .44 .32 .38 .35 February .44 .56 .42 .13 .39 March 3.21 2.13 1.57 .18 1.77 April 1.47 1.64 3.53 1.77 2.10 CO (t May .67 .98 1.15 fD 1.22 1.01 June 2.96 2.35 4.38 3.54 3.31 July 3.47 4.52 3.42 1.42 3.21 August 2.86 2.38 1.28 2.91 2.36 September .71 .30 .81 .31 .53 October .73 1.58 1.02: 1.15 1.12 November .26 .53 .46 .49 .44 December .46 .43 .72 .48 .52 Total 17.49 17.84 19.08 13.98 17.10 Temperature Max. Min. Max. Min Max. Min Max. Min January 19 -36 15 •45 18 -38 18 -35 February 42 -35 34 •44 41 -33 41' -28 March 63 -13 55 -18 55 -7 71 -1 April 67 18 64 9 66 17 68 14 May 92 22 90 11 88 17 90 23 June 93 37 90 32 94 38 94 38 July 95 51 92 45 93 52 96 50 August 91 45 88 42 92 47 92 42 September 93 25 91 25 92 33 94 33 October 81 18 80 16 82 17 78 17 November 42 -5 39 -•10 41 -4 42 -8 December 40 -21 37 •23 39 -16 40 -22 Habitat Conditions 1. Water Drainage of the past has practically eliminated the wetlands once found in the eastern quarter of this district. Water con­ ditions were excellent in that half of the district lying roughly between the eastern boundary of Nelson County on the east and a line running from Minnewaukan to the northwest corner of Rolette County (see Figure 1) as a consequence of the 20 to 30 inches of high moisture content snow left by the March blizzard. In the southwestern one-fourth potholes, generally had fair water conditions at best. A high rate of evaporation during the hot dry weather in September left the potholes in the southwestern quarter in poor condition and those in the remaining portion in fair to good shape. 2. Food and Cover Soil moisture conditions were good to excellent during the grow­ ing season in most of the district. A good mast crop was produced by bur oaks in the Turtle Mountains, and also in the Fort Totten Hills of southeastern Benson County. Grassland for nesting cover was good to excellent on WPA's, particularly on the more established native grass seedings and remnants of native prairie. Except for the grassland nesting cover on the WPA's and a few scattered remnants in the hillier portions of the area, such cover is a scarce commodity in these parts. It is apparent that the dearth of secure nesting sites is a serious limiting factor in dabbler production on the drift prairie here. Crop production for 1966 in North Dakota was one of the highest ever recorded. Both emergent and submergent aquatic vegetation were abundant, but their seed production appeared to be only fair. By raid- summer vegetation choked most of the shallower marshes, particu­ larly in the drouthy southwestern portion. Roundstem bulrushes, cattail, white-top, sedges, alkali bulrush and phragmites are the predominant emergents found here. Sago and clasping-leaved pond- weeds, water milfoil and bladderwort are the principal submergents. 5 II. WILDLIFE A. Migratory Birds 1. Waterfowl - (Anseriformes) Spring migration started nearly three weeks earlier than in 1965. During the week of March 13 - 19 mallards, pintails and Canada geese were seen arriving by area acquisition office personnel. By mid-April waterfowl migration was in full swing. The general impression I had was that the movement was steady through here with no spectacular shiftings noticeable. Five waterfowl breeding pair study blocks were selected this spring, each including a WPA, to sample all portions of north­ eastern North Dakota.