Research and Education

Delta Waterfowl collaborates with faculty and graduate students from institutions across North America to address research questions concerning North American ducks and geese. We often fund graduate students and their field crews to lead the data collection work on these projects. We have funded a wide variety of waterfowl research, but we tend to focus on population biology and management of ducks. We also have a long history of work that specifically targets breeding season events, because that is generally the period of the annual cycle that most impacts overall population size and trajectory for ducks and geese. Delta will certainly consider research related to R3 issues and policy concerns, especially those impacting wetlands and grasslands in the Prairie Pothole Region.

We encourage anyone with a project that they believe Delta should consider to contact any of the senior scientists at Delta: Dr. Jay VonBank, Scientific Director; Dr. Todd Arnold, Senior Scientist; or Dr. Frank Rohwer, Chief Scientist to get a gauge on our interest in a particular project. We can then request that you submit a more formal written research proposal for Delta to consider funding. In any graduate project where Delta Waterfowl is a substantial partner we expect one of the Delta scientists to play an active role on the graduate committee to shape the research, help with project design and mid-stream changes in field work, and to be part of the analysis and publication process. Delta’s budget cycle runs on a July 1 to June 30, so fiscal allocations are usually considered in mid-winter.  

Delta Waterfowl Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization funded by the philanthropy of waterfowlers across the continent. Accordingly, we have a firm policy of not paying overhead or other indirect costs to universities. We recognize that financial support to graduate students is essential to many projects, so we are willing to provide funding for stipends, tuition and fringe benefits, but we are more likely to collaborate with institutions that provide at least matching support for school-year funding.