Population goals for individual species such as mallards and black ducks are also established. Present numbers of many duck species are significantly below the goals established in the North American Plan. The 1988 breeding population index for all ducks in surveyed areas was only 525 million. The projected fall flight was only 66 million. Reduced numbers of pintails, blue-winged teal, canes, and scaup were recorded.
Pintails are of special concern.
The plan also establishes goals for goose, brant, and swan populations. These goals are based on wintering population indices of these birds. The goal of the North American Plan is to maintain current numbers for most goose, brant, and swan populations and to restore those that are declining. Each year in the United States, nearly half a million acres of wetlands are destroyed, mostly by agriculture but also by urban and industrial development. These wetland small potholes in the northern prairies, coastal marshes, vast southern bottomland hardwood swamps, and other-are essential for breeding, migrating, and wintering waterfowl.