With the vast areas of native grassland on large cattle ranches, nesting ducks can disperse widely, and nests are not easily found by predators. Predator populations are low. Also there are few red fox here. These effective predators of ground-nesting birds and eggs are kept in check by healthy coyote populations.
Coyotes take far fewer birds and eggs than do red fox.
While grass is abundant here, water and wetlands are limited. Working in cooperation with ranchers, the proposed project will bring water to this part of prairie Montana. The objective is to restore, enhance or create 200 acres of high quality wetlands on three or four large ranches every year. The new sources of water will attract more breeding pairs of ducks to an area where they will have a high probability of nesting successfully. And these wetlands will provide livestock water, helping ranchers to continue making a living off the land in ways compatible with waterfowl production.