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For all the reasons discussed earlier today by Hal Kantrud and George Swanson; changes in fire and grazing regimes, siltation, hybridization, and maybe the recent drought; cattails or more specifically, hybrid cattails, are more prevalent in wetlands today. Hybrid cattails have been a benefit to the species of wildlife attempting to survive in North Dakota over the winter, white-tailed deer, ring-necked pheasants, some furbearers. North Dakota natives can attest to that.

We have seen a reduction in the attractiveness of certain wetlands to waterfowl because of increased cattail. Some wetlands are simply too choked with cattails to provide much duck or marsh bird habitat. However, these cattail choked wetlands provide excellent habitat for breeding blackbirds in the summer and blackbird roosts in the fall.

In 1987, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began enhancing wildlife habitat on private lands under a program called the North Dakota Wildlife Extension Program. The program is now national in scope and has been renamed "Partners in Wildlife". Aldo Leopold, the father of wildlife management, several generations ago said the future of wildlife management was on private lands. The Partners for Wildlife Program gives the Service the opportunity to develop cattail management projects on private lands. George Linz described his research today as developing control methods for blackbirds with secondary benefits for ducks. We are using cattail control to improve marshes for waterfowl and marsh birds with a secondary benefit of blackbird control.

In North Dakota, the Service put cattail control in our menu of private land projects in 1989. We have been on Governor Sinner's Blackbird Task Force since that time. Larry Kleingartner, Executive Director of the North Dakota Sunflower Association, gave our initial efforts on cattail control some good coverage in the Sunflower Association Magazine.

Our cattail management efforts have criteria. We are not looking to eliminate cattails from all wetlands. Cattails are important winter cover for resident game and furbearers, and provide nesting substrate for canvasbacks, redheads, grebes, and other marsh birds.

The following is a brief summary of the history and guidelines for our cattail management program:

1. Cattail control or management is primarily an issue in the eastern half North Dakota;
2. We assume sufficient winter cover exits in the local area before removing cattails,
3. Typically our extension agreements with private landowners are written to treat only 50 to 70 percent of a wetland in order to create a good interspersion of open water and emergent vegetation. We typically treat wetlands 20 to 100 acres in size that are 100 percent choked with cattail.
4. In 1989 we tried shearing or mowing cattails over the ice in the winter. Costs ran about $50 to $100 per acre.
5. In 1990 and 1991, with the drought and resultant dry wetlands, we added double disking to our menu of cattail techniques. Costs were roughly $10 to $14 per acre.
6. In 1991, we treated up to 300 acres of cattails with Rodeo herbicide. Costs were approximately $65 per acre. This year we plan to treat up to 1,000 acres of cattail choked wetlands with Rodeo at an estimated cost of $65,000. The funds will be split evenly among the five Wetland Management Districts in the eastern half of the State; Devils Lake, Valley City, Arrowwood, Kulm, and Tewaukon.

In addition, the Kellys' Slough Wildlife Project in Grand Forks County received a $20,000 grant from Cargill and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and has the potential for a $20,000 grant in 1992. Cattail management is one of thirty-five action items identified in the Kellys' Slough Action Plan.

Between 1989 and October 1991, the Service has treated 146 wetlands totaling 3424 acres for cattails. This averages to about 25 acres per treated area. Most of the treatments have involved burning the dead cattails in the spring and disking the dry wetland during the summer. We treated about 225 acres with Rodeo in 1991, have mowed and sheared cattails on several hundred acres in 1989. We have tried some crowd grazing on cattails following research guidelines developed at South Dakota State University.

In addition, the Service is working with George Linz in his cattail management research. In Nelson County, George's study area, many of the Service's fee-owned Waterfowl Production Areas are study areas for his research. Quite possibly, all our Waterfowl Production Areas with cattail problems and water are in George's study, either as treatment areas or as controls without treatment. George's study is increasing in scope and quite likely his research in the south eastern portions of North Dakota will involve additional Waterfowl Production Areas.

In conclusion, the Service is going to continue with our cattail management activities. Our emphasis will be on the creation or rehabilitation of duck and marsh bird habitats with a secondary benefit of reducing suitable blackbird roosting cover. With the recent use of Rodeo herbicide, we have an additional tool to use for cattail management. The Service is not, and cannot eliminate all blackbird roosts or blackbird problems. Most of our techniques are temporary, lasting 3 to 7 years. This agrees with Kent Solberg's data and Craig Schnell's observations made earlier today.

There was little runoff in 1990 or 1991 to see what effect mowing or burning and disking had on treated cattails. We won't see the effects of our 1991 Rodeo applications until later in 1992, and won't see the effects of our 1992 treatments until 1993. Based on some of George Swanson's data, we will probably quit shearing and mowing cattails, but will continue to use burning and disking on dry wetlands.

One thing is certain; there are no 100 percent solutions, but with proper application we can manage cattails in a manner that enhances waterfowl and marsh bird habitat, while at the same time maintaining sufficient cover and habitat for the various species that have come to use cattail-choked wetlands. There are probably twenty 5 percent solutions for cattail, waterfowl, and blackbird problems.