WAUBAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE AND WAUBAY WETLAND MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Waubav. ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT Calendar Year 1996 U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM Waubay National Wildlife Refuge Waubay, South Dakota ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT Calendar Year 1996 CVt-<-3 R^mge Manager Regional Office Appooval TABLE OF CONTENTS 3. Waterfowl 10 Page 4. Marsh and Water Birds NTR INTRODUCTION 1 5. Shorebirds, Gulls, Terns & Allied SpeciesNTR 6. Raptors NTR A HIGHLIGHTS 1 7. Other Migratory Birds 11 8. Game Mammals 12 B CLIMATIC CONDITIONS 1 9. Marine Mammals NTR 10. Other Resident Wildlife 13 C LAND ACQUISITION 11. Fisheries Resources 14 12. Wildlife Propagation and Stocking NTR 1. Fee Title Nothing to Report (NTR) 13. Surplus Animal Disposal NTR 2. Easements NTR 14. Scientific Collections NTR 3. Other NTR 15. Animal Control NTR 16. Marking and Banding 14 D PLANNING 17. Disease Prevention and Control NTR 1. Master Plan NTR H PUBLIC USL 2. Management Plan NTR 3. Public Participation NTR 1. General 14 4. Compliance with Environmental and Cultural 2. Outdoor Classrooms - Students 14 Resource Mandates NTR 3. Outdoor Classrooms - Teachers 15 5. Research and Investigations NTR 4. Interpretive Foot Trails NTR 6. Other NTR 5. Interpretive Tour Routes ;NTR 6. Interpretive Exhibits/Demonstrations NTR E ADMINISTRATION 7. Other Interpretive Programs NTR 8. Hunting 15 1. Personnel 2 9. Fishing NTR 2. Youth Programs NTR 10. Trapping NTR 3. Other Manpower Programs NTR 11. Wildlife Observation NTR 4. Volunteer Program NTR 12. Other Wildlife Oriented Recreation NTR 5. Funding 3 13. Camping NTR 6. Safety 4 14. Picnicking NTR 7. Technical Assistance 4 15. Off-Road Vehicling NTR 8. Other NTR 16. Other Non-Wildlife Oriented Recreation. NTR 17. Law Enforcement 16 F HABITAT MANAGEMENT 18. Cooperative Associations NTR 19. Concessions NTR 1. General NTR 2. Wetlands 5 I EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES 3. Forests 7 4. Croplands 7 1. New Construction NTR 5. Grasslands NTR 2. Rehabilitation NTR 6. Other Habitats NTR 3. Major Maintenance 17 7. Grazing NTR 4. Equipment Utilization and Replacement. 17 8. Haying 7 5. Communications Systems NTR 9. Fire Management 8 6. Computer System 18 10. Pest Control 8 7. Energy Conservation NTR 11. Water Rights 8 8. Other NTR 12. Wilderness and Special Areas 10 13. WPA Easement Monitoring NTR J OTHEfi ITEMS G WILDLIFE 1. Cooperative Programs NTR 2. Other Economic Uses NTR 1. Wildlife Diversity 10 3. Items of Interest 19 2. Endangered and/or threatened Species 10 4. Credits 20 1 INTRODUCTION Waubay National Wildlife Refuge, located in northeastern South Dakota, was estabhshed in 1935 as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife. The word "Waubay" is of Sioux Indian origin meaning "a nesting place for birds." Over 244 species of birds have been observed on the Refuge. All five species of grebes commonly found in the United States nest at Waubay. Topography of the surrounding area is characterized by gently rolling hills w ith a higher density of wetland basins and large, shallow prairie lakes than found in adjacent physiographic regions within other parts of South Dakota. Refuge size is 4,740 acres including 2,146 acres of grasslands, 1,761 acres of wetlands, 665 acres of native forests, 168 acres of cropland, and 23 acres of administrative lands (roads, buildings, and parking lots). A. HIGHUGHTS > Waubay-Hillebrand's Lake rose 2.8 feet to an all-time high of 1797.5 msl. Section F.2. High water generated more controversy including a federal court injunction involving Day Co. Section FIT Forty passerine species were captured in mist nets. Section G.7. Howl-o-ween was a howling success. Section H. 1. The Refuge headquarters access road was raised 4-feet to combat high water levels. Section 1.3. B. CLIMATIC CONDITIONS Records of climatic conditions were maintained in cooperation with the National Weather Service to serve as documentation of annual climatic conditions for Waubay NWR and surrounding areas. Daily records maintained were maximum and minimum air temperatures, precipitation levels, and soil temperatures at 2, 4, 8, 40, and 72 inches. Soil temperature infonnation is useful to farmers try ing to optimize planting dates of various crops. Annual precipitation was 22.52 inches, almost two inches higher than the 44-year average of 20.71 inches. Six of the last seven years have had above average precipitation. The 4 95-'96 winter was relatively snow free for this area with only 41.1" falling since October of 1995 and no more than a foot of snow on the ground at any time. With only 2" of melted precipitation for all of January through April, it appeared we were headed for a drier year than has been seen in the recent past. Only August turned out to be dry - precipitation for the last four months of the year was higher than average again (Fig. 1). Although some temporary wetlands began to dry up in August, they soon refilled after September and October rains. The first inch of snow of the '96-91 winter fell on 15 November, with another 10" within a week. By month's end there was a foot of snow on the ground and another foot by the end of December. Total snowfall amount for November-December was 29.7 inches. A two day blizzard in December forced the closing of the Interstate and other major roads and set the scene for one the snowiest, coldest, and windiest winters on record. WAUBAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE UNITED STATES OAY COUNTY. SOUTH DAKOTA UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OE THE INTERIOR FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE R 54 W R 53 W 9 Although there wasn't much snow cover, January and February were still ugly with low temperatures of below zero recorded for twenty days straight from the last two weeks of January through the first five days of February. This cold spell culminated on 2 February with a low of -33 0F and a daily high of -20 0F. Blizzard conditions occurred once each month including a rain turned to snowstorm on the 23-25 of March. Whoever said March goes out like a lamb never lived in northeast South Dakota. April was cool and dry with ice out occurring near the end of the month and May cool and very wet with rain occurring on 18 days. Temperatures hit 90 0F only once on 28 June continuing the unseasonable temperatures. Many small lakes and ponds froze up after a sudden freeze at the end of October but larger ones stayed open until 13 November. November and December provided little rehef and the year ended with another two week spell of below zero low temperatures. In fact November 1996 through January of 1997 are on record as the coldest three month period in over one hundred years of record keeping in South Dakota. PRECIPITATION WaubayNWR JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC 1996 |44YR.AVG. E. ADMINISTRATION 1. Personnel 1. Richard A. Gilbert. Refuge Manager, GS-12, PFT, transferred 2/4 to Cibola NWR, Arizona 2. Connie L. Mueller. Supervisory Refuge Operation Specialist, GS-11, PFT 3. Douglas A. Leschisin, Refuge Operation Specialist, GS-11, PFT Refuge Staff: L to R (Back) Okroi, Dargatz, Pluhar, Wickstrom, Dolney, Gruba. (Front) Mueller, Lousias, Leschisin, Umbright. 4. Jarrod B. Lee, ROS trainee, GS-5, EOD 7/8 5. Dennis D. Okroi, Administrative Support Assistant, GS-7, PFT 6. Lynn F. Pluhar, Maintenance Worker, WG-8, PFT, transferred 8/18/96 to Ennis NFH, Montana 7. Laura D. Umbright, Wildlife Biologist, GS-9 PFT 8. Richard Dolney, Maintenance Worker, WG-6, PPT, 4/3 - 12/13 9. Emil J. Gruba, Maintenance Worker, WG-6, PPT 4/3 - 12/10 10. Thomas L. Wickstrom, Biological Tech., GS-6, Term 11. Christine Lousias, Biological Tech., GS-5, Term 12. Michael W. Dargatz, Biological Aid, GS-4, Temporary 4/15 -6/7, Range Technician, GS-5 6/7 - 12/6 13. Jean M. Gortmaker, Range Technician, GS-4 Temporary 7/29 - 12/6 5. Funding The Wetland Management District and Refuge are funded as a single unit and operations of both are covered by one Annual Work Plan. Table 1 shows a comparison of station funding for the last eight years. 4 Table 1. Sta tion fundiiig from 1988 thn nigh 1996, (Money in i thousands) Fiscal O&M Construction MMS Fire Salaries Year 96 362.8 . 100 30.2 358* 95 360.9 - 40.8 2 386* 94 369 - 145 7 360 93 371 131 - 5 350 92 380 - 123 9 313 91 419 - - 27 236 90 327 24 - 15 235.7 89 315 - 5 - 229 88 340 - 5 - 214 •Private Land salaries of $55,296 are included in this figure. Ecosystem funding consisted of $15,000 for 1996. 6. Safety Periodic safety meetings were held to discuss timely safety issues. 7. Tecbiijcal Assistance Waubay Refuge is a State of South Dakota registered weather station. Monthly precipitation records and weather summaries are maintained for the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) through the NWS (National Weather Service) out of Sioux Falls, SD. The data is transmitted using Remote Observations System Automation (ROSA), Monthly soil temperatures and moisture content are also collected and reported every fifteen minutes. Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Nation biologists requested our assistance on some ideas for surveying and biological monitoring techniques. Umbright exchanged ideas on point counts, monitoring techniques for small mammals and non-game species. She gave them information on where to obtain equipment and other resources for then- studies. Umbright attended the annual Central Flyway wing-bee in Kansas to age and identily species of thousands of waterfowl wings.