Associated Press

The number of breeding ducks in North Dakota is unchanged from last year but dried-out wetlands and a lack of moisture to fill them are hurting the duck population, a state wildlife official says.

The state Game and Fish Department said a spring breeding duck survey conducted in May estimated nearly 3.4 million birds. That was 51 percent above the long-term average, said Mike Johnson, a migratory game bird management supervisor.

Poor water conditions are hurting breeding, Johnson said.

"A lot of ducks are just sitting around, and a good share are not in the breeding mode," he said. "It's very dry."Ponds in North Dakota, the biggest duck-producing state in the Lower 48, are either dried up or low because of lack of rain, he said.

Water levels in the prairie potholes are the 10th lowest since 1948 and the lowest since 1992, he said.

"Ponds produce breeding space and the food ducks need for reproduction," Johnson said.

The annual spring survey is done by four two-person teams covering more than 1,800 miles in the state. They count ducks and observing the condition of wetlands.

Johnson said duck populations also may be hurt by the dwindling number of people participating in a federal program that pays landowners to idle land for conservation. He said the loss of acres from the Conservation Reserve Program could substantially shrink duck numbers.

"Ducks don't nest in water. They nest in grass," Johnson said. "If they don't have secure nesting cover, they can't hatch their eggs.

"The loss of CRP means the loss of secure nesting cover,"' he said.

The department's July brood survey will give a better idea of duck production, and a better idea of what hunters can expect this fall, Johnson said.

"I think we will see reduced production this year," he said.