As I write this, the first winter
weather of 2016 means ducks and geese are on the move. Such a migration can
create quite a spectacle—for hunters and others who just enjoy observing
migrating waterfowl on the wing.
A hundred years ago, this annual
migration of waterfowl and other birds wasn't nearly as spectacular as it is
today, and that's part of the reason the U.S. and Canada developed the first
Migratory Bird Treaty.
The October 2016 issue of North
Dakota Outdoors magazine, a publication of the North Dakota Game and Fish
Department, featured the centennial of this landmark agreement, and it reminded
me of the importance of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to what we enjoy today.
It's not just ducks and geese,
either; many other shore and wading birds that either nest in or migrate
through North Dakota were headed toward extinction a century ago because of
unregulated harvest for feathers for women's hats.
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