Page 24 - Waterfowl

Charles E. “Ted” Shanks, chief of the MDC Game Section, is credited with the vision that became the cornerstone of the Missouri Model.
Courtesy, Missouri Department of Conservation.
Ted Shanks’s Vision for Missouri Waterfowl
The Missouri Model began in the late 1940s when Charles E. “Ted” Shanks, waterfowl biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), envisioned a waterfowl hunting program on publicly owned lands that ensured affordable and quality opportunities for all Missourians equivalent to those of the best privately owned clubs in the state. Shanks was promoted several times during his MDC career, which ended with his untimely death in 1968 at the age of forty-eight. He was chief of the Game Section at the time of his death. Regardless of the position he held, Shanks never abandoned his vision for Missouri’s waterfowl management program.
In 1955, Richard W. “Dick” Vaught followed Shanks as state waterfowl biologist. Vaught led efforts to implement Shanks’s vision for more than thirty years. In 1970, Vaught was promoted to supervise all the department’s wetland areas where he helped with the acquisition of new areas, designed long-range management plans, and hired staff to put the plans into action.
Missouri waterfowl habitats are associated with the rivers, including the Mississippi and the Missouri that wind their way through or along the borders of the state. The state’s rivers serve as migration corridors for waterfowl while floodplains provide the habitats to meet nesting, migrating, or wintering needs. Historically, these landscapes were very dynamic, changing dramatically with flood events, periods of severe drought, and other natural phenomena. However, humans have altered the dynamic nature of these habitats significantly.
The first humans sharing these habitats with waterfowl were Native Americans who relied on the rivers for travel and the bountiful wildlife for their very existence. The relatively low numbers of Native Americans mostly lived in harmony with wildlife. With the arrival of European settlers, more permanent communities were established along the rivers. As populations increased, the wetlands, grasslands, and forests so important to waterfowl were altered for production of food, fiber, and other necessities. The impacts were devastating for waterfowl. Over the past 200 years, nearly 90 percent of the state’s original wetlands have been converted to other uses.2 In addition, flood control and navigation projects have greatly changed hydrology and other processes necessary for functioning wetlands. Humans were responsible for damaging waterfowl habitat in Missouri, but ultimately they would come to value these resources and support their long-term sustainability. Today, even in a highly altered state, floodplains of many of Missouri’s rivers continue to provide quality habitat for waterfowl.
Richard W. “Dick” Vaught, MDC waterfowl biologist in the 1950s and 1960s and wetland area supervisor during the 1970s and 1980s, preparing for an aerial waterfowl survey. Courtesy, Missouri Department of Conservation.
22 Waterfowl Hunting and Wetland Conservation in Missouri