Annual estimates of breeding ducks, breeding duck habitat, and breeding duck productivity

In 1987, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Regions 3 and 6 initiated a survey to annually assess the size and productivity of waterfowl populations, and measure wetland habitat conditions within Wetland Management Districts (WMD) in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and northeastern Montana. The original impetus for the survey resulted from the FWS Directorate's desire to improve the monitoring of migratory birds and to obtain consistency among National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) waterfowl surveys. The survey, called the "Four-Square-Mile (FSM) Survey" was developed by statisticians and biologists from Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center and relied on ground pair counts in combination with aerial videography to obtain data [...]