SREL Reprint #2921

Harvestable Natural Resources: Waterfowl

Robert A. Kennamer

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, PO Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802

Abstract: Waterfowl are among the most economically important wildlife occurring on the Savannah River Site (SRS). On an annual basis, three million people in the United States spend $700 million on sport hunting of migratory birds, with about one third of that activity directed toward duck and goose hunting (U.S. Department of the Interior et al. 1993). During the 1960s, estimated numbers of 226,000 to 750,000 ducks passed through the Savannah River drainage each winter (Bellrose 1980), making the area a major route for migratory waterfowl within the Atlantic Flyway. More recently, midwinter waterfowl surveys in South Carolina during the early 1990s have shown reduced numbers of ducks within the state, ranging from 124,000 to almost 219,000 (Serie 1992, 1993). On the SRS, large numbers of waterfowl have occurred since closure of the site to the public in the early 1950s (Jenkins and Provost 1964; Mayer, Kennamer, and Hoppe 1986). Twenty-eight species of North America’s native ducks, geese, and swans, as well as several other aquatic bird species that are often closely allied with waterfowl, have been identified on the SRS between 1952 and 1997 (Halverson et al. 1997). Wood ducks and hooded mergansers are the only waterfowl known to breed on the SRS (Mayer, Kennamer, and Hoppe 1986), and both species require cavities in which to nest. Waterfowl are present in most suitable SRS aquatic habitats (Norris 1963; Mayer, Kennamer, and Hoppe 1986; Halverson et al. 1997; Kennamer, unpublished data), including those contaminated by nuclear materials production activities (e.g., reactor cooling reservoirs and seepage and settling basins).

SREL Reprint #2921

Kennamer, R. A. 2005. Harvestable Natural Resources: Waterfowl. pp. 347-359 In J. C. Kilgo and J. I. Blake (Eds.). Ecology and Management of a Forested Landscape: Fifty Years on the Savannah River Site. Island Press.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).