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On
behalf of millions of urban residents across the northern ˝ of the US, thank
you Nebraska. On behalf of everyone who enjoys the sight of waterfowl, thank
you. On behalf of everyone concerned about our soil and water, thank
you. On
behalf of everyone concerned about the threat of disease to the health of our
families and communities, thank you. On behalf of everyone  concerned about the
health and long-term fate of waterfowl, thank you.
When central Nebraska farmers were accused of
causing fertilizer runoff that threatened water and soil: when they were
accused unjustly of breeding mosquitoes (that caused West Nile Virus deaths)
in irrigation water they didn’t give up, they stood up.
The mosquito allegations were proven to be
bogus immediately since it takes 6 to 7 days of still water to breed the
insects and farmers have no such puddling due to any farm practices. Still
waters in lagoons, nearly all of which are owned and managed by State and
Federal agencies, are the major source of such waters in central Nebraska.
A central Nebraska farmer asked me recently
if waterfowl droppings (feces or manure) are a source of nitrogen and if they
are a possible contaminant in central Nebraska. What I found was a scandal.
For 80 years, the Federal government has
exercised primary authority over the waterfowl of the US. In that time they
have never documented the content and consequences of waterfowl feces
deposition. This is a growing area of concern today when increasingly large
flocks of Canada geese, snow geese, and cranes congregate during migration and
on wintering grounds. Such flocks 
have become more frequent and concentrated
on the central Platte River environs of Nebraska. Populations as high as 8 to
10 million ducks, geese, and cranes concentrate in central Nebraska at various
times in the fall, spring, and during mild winters.
The US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS)
refuses to recognize the problem and will not act. The Nebraska Game &
Parks can do only what FWS allows. The USDA can only do what FWS permits. EPA
has no jurisdiction over wild birds but they have two sets of regulations for
feedlots; one for everything but ducks (commercially raised for stores and
restaurants) and one for ducks. The regulations for ducks are an eye-opener.
The Federal government (EPA) declared
jurisdiction over commercial duck production 30 years ago for ALL FLOCKS OVER
5,000 BIRDS. EPA requires double lagoons lined to prevent seepage, on-site
aeration and disposal, and levies heavy fines for any runoff during storms.
This is because they have extensive documentation of fecal Coliform bacteria,
fecal Streptococcus bacteria, Nitrogen, Potassium, Orthophosphorus,
Phosphorous, and assorted volatile solids in duck manure that is almost a
pound per day for sedentary ducks in controlled environments. EPA justifies
the strict regulations to protect groundwater, surface water, soil, and human
health. Until the Federal government conducts similar research on wild ducks
and geese, we can only speculate on what 8 million birds do in a month of
loafing and feeding in fields and roosting on a few lagoons or in the Platte.
The impacts, to be sure, are not good for farmers, not good for water
resources, not good for the soil, not good for the birds, and especially not good
for the people and State of Nebraska.
So why do I thank you? Because your concern
and willingness to stand up to Federal bird managers may result in answers
about the magnitude of this problem and that will lead to solutions from
dispersal of concentrations on migration and wintering grounds to targeted
reductions of certain bird populations that endanger human lives and human
pursuits. Concentrating more wetlands in the same areas only magnifies the
problem while dispersal and/or reductions are what are needed.
Bird Refuges should be managed with such
things in mind. Bird watchers and hunters should monitor concentrations to
guarantee the health of birds crowded together for extended periods. Farmers
should know what certain concentrations are doing to water resources and soils
in their environment. Urban residents should know what is happening to water
supplies and the true impacts of over-abundant resident Canada goose flocks.
Most of all, we now understand that if EPA considers 5,000 ducks a dire threat
to so much; 8 million birds sitting in central Nebraska is far more than “an
act of nature” or “something we can’t do anything about.”
So, on behalf of a whole lot of people, Thank
You Nebraska! 
Jim Beers – Retired Wildlife Biologist,
Refuge Manager, and Special Agent; US Fish & Wildlife Service
30 March 2004
This article and other recent articles by Jim
Beers can be found at
http://www.allianceforamerica.org/bb/viewforum.php?f=91
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