Why Waterfowl in the Klamath Basin Need Help Right Now (Ep. 794)

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Have a good hunt. Have a good hunt. Hey everybody, welcome back. I am your host on today's episode, Dr. Mike Brazier. And we are here to talk about a very important issue that unfortunately is unfolding out in the Western U.S. Again, we've talked about this a little bit in the past and it's always an important issue. We want to highlight it affects one of the most important regions for all sorts of waterfowl breeding, migrating, and wintering. And that is the climate basin. We are here in summer, 2026. And we unfortunately have another situation. We've got some botulism cropping up out there. And we are joined today by Jeff McReary, our Director of Operations for the Western Region and Dr. Dan Smith, Waterfowl scientists from the Western Region to give us an update on what the situation is and what we are helping and other partners are helping to do about it. Jeff, welcome back. Sorry, it's under these circumstances, but it's always great to have you. Yeah, Mike, thanks. It is unfortunate circumstances, but we got to tell the story and we're looking forward to doing that with you today. And Dan, on the science side of things, it's always great to have you here and appreciate what you're going to be able to bring to help us understand a little bit more of the technical aspects of kind of what's happening with this disease. Yeah, thanks, Mike. So Jeff, I'm going to just turn to you and have you give us an update on like how we got here sort of what the current status is. We talked to some folks earlier in the spring about some rain, some very much needed rain that filled some wetlands out there in the climate basin, had things really, really primed. But we knew at that time that there might have been some dark clouds on the horizon depending on how things played out due to what we had experienced over the preceding months in terms of winter snowfall. So I'm going to let you give us the update on that type of thing. What, how do we get to this point? How did the winter and then spring and now summer play out to get us to where we are and what's happening with birds? Well, I think it's a simple story of drought and climate. The Western United States, it shouldn't be any surprise for us, Westerners had record low snowpack. We heard lots of stories about the Colorado River and Lake Mead going dry and the same is true in the climate basin. We had a winter with record low snowpack for the most part. There was zero snow on the ground or in the winter. And this is quite a change from last year where it was record snowpack. So we've gone from one extreme, but literally one extreme to the to the other in climate basin. However, there was a lot of great rain. While rain is good for the short term spring means there's runoff going into the fall. And without that winter runoff, the great spring water that we had is about to end and it's ending right now. What that meant was water fell production was once again phenomenal in the climate basin. That's three years in a row and the refuge was estimating over 100,000 duck leans were produced just on the two refuges, lower clamoth and tulile lake this year. And that combination of high water fell production and declining water levels in the summer is what's creating the situation where we've got the beginnings and the potential for a significant botanolism outbreak up in the clan. So Jeff, you know, water availability, water usage, water allocation and all across the west is a complicated topic and we've discussed it on on previous episodes. For a lot of people back east, this idea of the importance of winter snowpack being so important is difficult one for us to grapple with. But the way I kind of think about is try to explain it is that once once summer comes along in many of those western states, there's not a whole lot of rain that falls. So and it's also very hot and it's very dry. And so you get a lot of evaporation, a lot of those water levels can go down pretty dog on quick. And so that winter snowpack high up in the mountain, the frozen stage frozen throughout winter, if we get it and then as we get into spring and summer, it gradually begins to melt and you've got that downstream flow that kind of provides that gradual trickle all throughout spring and then summer and it kind of gets you over into the fall. Once the hopefully the wetter seasons return, when you have low snowpack, you don't have that sort of frozen reservoir that gradually melts and then kind of keeps you in good situation throughout, throughout summer. And that's where we find ourselves now if I'm understanding things correctly. And so I mean help add anything else to that with regard to even when we, I guess the importance of having abundance mountain snowpack and then when we have that, it makes the lot of these decisions on water allocation easier. When we don't have that abundant mountain snowpack, the decisions on who gets the water when it goes and where it goes, that becomes a lot more complicated, doesn't it? Oh, it does. And I can't think of another landscape in which the water, legalities and politics are more complicated and complex than the climate basin. But essentially you're right, the water that's stored up in the snowpack is the reservoir, the long-term reservoir for much of the western United States, where a surface water driven system. So somewhere around April or May, it stops raining and it might not start raining until November, December, some years. So it's beautiful, clear blue sky weather. It's great, but there's no rain that's fallen during this time. And that snowpack as it slowly dries out and melts and goes into the ground, it releases its water to the rivers and the streams and the water flows down. When that snowpack's not there, that's not happening. And that's what we're seeing here in the climate basin. And then the consequences, the consequences, yeah, tell us about that. What happens on those right? Yeah, for sure. So what it means for the climate basin is that in a very highly regulated watershed like the climate, there's essentially three pots of water that's available. And it's largely driven by contracts and law. So there's endangered fish within the climate basin. In the upper lake, there's the Twam and Coptu, the lost river and short-nosed sucker fish. They're both endangered and co-hosammon and the river and they're threatened under the ESA. And there's biological opinions that drive how much water is available or needed for the recovery of the species or the persistence of these species. And so those are two of the pots. One is a biological opinion for the sucker fish and the upper lake, which holds the lake at a certain elevation. There's another biological opinion that drives water flow down the climate river in the spring and in the fall. And that's the second pot of water. The third pot of water is contract driven and that's a contract between the federal government and the irrigation districts within the climate project. And there's an allocation of water that goes to the project. And that's the third pot where the refuges sit is at the bottom of the system. And like many places in the west, the wildlife refuges were the lowest hardest to drain, hardest to reclaim for other purposes. And so they are at the end of agricultural irrigation systems. And that's the case with lower climates and Tully Lake. And because the climate project was set up to drain water from the landscape, the two refuges don't have a water rate. They were just getting whatever extra water was available from the irrigation project. Well, that was 100 years ago. And the irony is now that these two refuges that were part of a system that was designed to drain are now short of water and don't have a water rate. And thus we're seeing this scenario unfold this year. Once again, where the refuges are started to dry up because there's just not enough water in the system. And this year is especially concerning because those abundant spring rains recharged all those wetlands, attracted a bunch of breeding dogs, produced over 100,000 ducklings by some estimates. And you get all these birds that are that were breeding and were successful there. And then you get a lot of other birds that come to that area anyway to from all around the western US as a molting site. And here we have a situation where those wetland levels are dropping. And we are desperate for some water. The consequence of not of having a lot of birds on a wetland like that with dropping water levels is that we get an elevated risk of botulism. And that's what we're starting to see. And I think this is where I want to sort of, I mean, you can give us an update on the severity of what the botulism out break is right now. Or we can immediately turn it over to Dan to kind of give us a bit of a primer on that. What would you like to do there, Jeff? I think getting into what is botulism. There's a lot of misconceptions, I think, that people have about what botulism is. And Dan might be great to give us a little bit of insight about what that is and what those effects are. Okay. Dan, take it away, man. All right. So botulism has been around for a long time. And when we say botulism, we're referring to a bacteria, clostridum, bachelanum. And, you know, this has been reported, I mean, there's early reports in 1910 of millions of water fell killed by this in California and Utah. And unfortunately, we've seen a number of these big kind of outbreak events over the last few decades. And this bacteria that ultimately causes these water fell to die is the result of them ingesting this bacteria, which turns into a narrow toxin for them. And so it's pretty sad and disappointing. But when these ducks consume this bacteria, they start to get paralysis, a dripping neck, the birds appear listless. And ultimately, they frequently drown because of this paralytic nature of the narrow toxin. And we see this happen really, really quickly, sometimes within 24 hours. And so it can be a pretty potent exposure for these birds. And we tend to see it, you know, with the conditions that we're seeing right now is water recedes. You get really warm conditions. This bacteria tends to do really, really well being kind of present in the soil during warm periods, during droughts. It'll persist. And so now when we start to see warmer temperatures and lower oxygen levels, this anaerobic bacteria, which means it starts to get really productive and a lack of oxygen, starts to become very prolific on that landscape. And that's when we start to see birds interact with it. You know, a lot of talk to a variety of people. And if botulism comes up, it's instinctive to try to imagine various solutions in one of which is that I've heard a number of times is, well, why don't we haze birds away from these areas where we know botulism is where there's an outbreak? I mean, part of the issue is that the birds that are affected right now are ducklings that have not yet attained the ability to fly. So that doesn't work with them. Other birds are flightless adults that are molting, so they can't escape the area. So once they get to an area and drop their feathers, they're there and you can't haze them or scare them away. And there's probably, probably aren't many other places for these birds to go in that area anyway. What type of, I mean, and clean up efforts? Today work, what do we know about any type of efforts to sort of remedy this? Like I know ultimately what we would love to see is more water and we're going to get to that, but short of that, is there anything else that has proven successful? Yeah, so that's a really good question. It's something that, you know, waterfowl college has been trying to study because it can result in millions of dead birds. And so what you do mention is the waterfowl pickups, which is where folks go out and they try to pick up these infected or dead birds, that is very, very helpful for getting them off the landscape because that dead and decaying matter that they provide gives substrate to more bacteria to maggots that start to concentrate this. So the more dead birds you can pick up, whether it's ducklings or waterbirds or whatever else, we can actually start to slow the spread of that bacteria. And actually, that's one of the initial causes when we see water levels decline, it's not necessarily soil exposure that's driving these bacteria outbreaks. It's honestly, it's the dead invertebrates. It's the dead fish as these water levels receive that provide the bacteria, the protein that it needs to start being really productive. So it's not a very glamorous job, but if you go out and pick up these dead birds, you start to really kind of fend off a bit of this. But it's really hard because a lot of these birds can go fast. And fortunately, the footprint and claim of where these wetlands are is relatively small. So crews that are doing these pickups can be really successful in other areas around the west, like in these really remote wetlands, either in Canada or across Utah. It can be really challenging to get crews out there and have them pick up our large enough proportion to see a decline in kind of that protein source, if you will, to reduce bacteria spread. The other thing that you really need to have happen is cool the water temperature. So that's something you mentioned. Sure, if you can get colder temperatures, that's really helpful. That's really when we see a cessation of the disease is when it starts to freeze overnight. But that can be really challenging if it's August out here in the west. We're just not going to see that temperature change. So Jeff, I want to come back to you then. Let's talk about sort of solutions, near term solutions, long term solutions. Those two things are probably there's some relationship to those things. But like right now, I think we're talking about near term solutions. What are we doing? What are other partners doing to try to lessen the severity of this outbreak? And what are the prospects for doing so? That's the issue of the day here is what are we what's being done here? And it is a complicated place to work. No single project, no restoration projects can solve this issue. It's a long term systemic issue that is embroiled in endangered species act, legalities, water rights, politics, and a legacy, unfortunately, over the last couple of decades of conflict and fighting over scarce water supplies. But as Dan mentioned, what needs to happen is more water. And if we can add more water into the refuges, we can increase the water depth above some of these mud flats that are out there. We can cool the water, we can circulate the water. And all of those things are going to limit the spread of botulism. It's not necessarily going to cure it or eliminate it, but it will drastically reduce the spread and kind of productivity of the bacterium. So getting water is what the most important thing. And when we talked about the three different pots of water, that's where the water's going to come from. And in this, sorry, go ahead. Well, I was just going to say, you know, we've been here before. This isn't the first time we've encountered this, this summer botulism outbreak. And so as you, as you talk about what we're trying to do this year, you know, maybe harken back to what we did in past years and are those the same type of things that we're working on right now? Very similar. I mean, the, the, the recipe is the same. Get more water, cool the water down, circulate it, raise the water levels up. And the question is, the ingredients that are going to go into this recipe, like where's the water going to come from to be able to do that? And this year, it's different than previous years. So a few years ago, we were trying to get about a 10,000 acre feet of water. And that came from the Pacific power. And they loan some water to the Tulule Lake irrigation district to increase the water levels in Tulule Lake. Well, the dams and the climate river are out now. And so that water doesn't exist anymore to, to use. So it has to be, it has to be something else. And it's got to come from one of those three pots of water that I was describing. So what do you, yeah, what do you think? What's the path forward here, man? The path forward is all about relationships. And what he's been doing for the last six years is to change the paradigm, change the culture for what climate is known for from one of conflict to one of collaboration. The only way forward that we see is the local community led collaborative efforts to find some new balance of water use and water sharing within the climate basin is the only way forward. And what that means is that the tribes that are downriver, the tribes that are upriver, the climate tribes, upriver, the Uroch and crew downriver, the climate water users association and the irrigation districts and the project, reclamation, fish and wildlife service, national marine fishery service, all the entities that are engaged in some way, shape, perform in the politics and the legalities and water rights in the basin need to be able to collaborate instead of engaging in conflict to find some kind of creative way to move water differently in the system. And we've been working with all of those people and entities to be able to develop a situation in environment in which we can have collaboration, we can have conversations. And so there's a lot of shuttle diplomacy and behind the scenes work, building relationships with everybody and using DU as the fulcrum on which we can all pivot to a new paradigm. And we're seeing some of that happen this year, in fact. And I've been cautiously optimistic that we will be able to find some level of solution. I still am. It's really challenging. It's dark out there. in a lot of days, but I still see some light at the end of the tunnel. And what that light looks like is climate water users have proposed the concept of flow through. And this is a way of running water through down the river, diverted into the Klamath project, run it through the refuges, pump it through sheepy ridge with the pumping station called deplant into lower Klamath and then back out into the river. And along the way, what that does is it cleans that water up because upper Klamath Lake, if you've never been there, the only thing I can describe it as is pea soup green. It's hyperutrophic. It's 80 degree water. It is green with algae and phytoplankton. And there's health warnings for your dogs to swim in it. It's just not very good water. But the power of wetlands is that it can clean that water up and it can cool it down. And if we use the refuges to do that, that water can go back out into the river cooler, cleaner and better than it was just a few miles up upstream. And the beauty of the flow through is that the water users are pledging to run 100% of this water through the system for these purposes to clean the water quality up to recharge aquifers and to create better habits that within the refuges and in the river that's all going to benefit waterfowl fish and people at the same time. And that's the concept that's in front of us that's being considered right now. So Jeff, I want to dig into that a little bit. First, I want to take a break. And we're going to come right back. We're going to talk a little bit more about flow through. I want to talk about any other options that may be on the table for this year. And then I also want to just kind of give some brief coverage to the importance of the Klamath. Remind people how super critical it is for everything that happens with waterfowl, migratory waterfowl and the Pacific flyway. So stay with us folks. We got more information after the break. Stay tuned to the Ducks Unlimited podcast, sponsor by Bird Dog Whiskey after these messages. Hey everyone, welcome back. I am here with Jeff McCreary, our director of operations in the Western region and Dr. Dan Smith, Waterfowl scientist from the Western region. And we are giving an update on the botulism outbreak in the Klamath basin and we're trying to figure out solutions for this year. And then also think sort of proactively, creatively about how that might translate into sort of a more sustainable, you know, situation in the future where we don't run into this quite as often. So flow through, you know, Jeff, that sounds like it's like almost an engineering puzzle. It's like, are there components of this that would require like new infrastructure of some sorts? Or is this just mainly convincing people to think differently about the way we've used and moved water? It's still out of there, Mike. The infrastructure exists. And in fact, historically, lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge got 80% or more of its water in this same way. Running water down to the project into Tully Lake, 3D plant and over into lower Klamath. As the climate started to dry and endangered species act biological opinions, drove water in different directions away from the project, that practice is essentially dried up. Power costs are also extremely higher. I mean, orders of magnitude higher than they were just 15 years ago. There was a, there was a sweetheart deal that reclamation had with the power company where it was only six kilowatts an hour for power. Now it's over 40, if not even higher. So the infrastructure exists. It's the political and legal aspects of it that is different. And what's unique about this is that the water users and irrigation districts are pledging to use 100% of this water for this flow through effort. And that is remarkable because the Klamath project only got about 63% of its allocation. So somewhere around 400,000 feet acre feet is a normal allocation. They're down to about 220,000 acre feet this year. And so agriculture is running out of water too. It's not just the refuges, but there's more stress on the system than just the refuges. And so it's remarkable that water users and the irrigation districts are proposing to do this. So there's, it sounds like there's general or maybe emerging agreement for the concept. It's just you got to make sure that it doesn't run a foul of any of the sort of legal elements. Is that, is that what I'm hearing? That's right. And what D who's been doing is working with our water user, near-gation district partner, working with our tribal partners, working with our agency partners to create a atmosphere in which conversations can be had and relationships can be built. And we've been doing that through delivery of our projects, the Barnes Agency Project for one, additional pump projects that we're doing on the refuges for another. And that has created this opportunity to do things differently, to create a collaborative, multi-beneficial solution that uses the power of the refuges. And at the end of the day, if the refuges are the last in line for water, how do we move them to the top? How do we make them the priority? And to do that, we have to use them to help recover fish. Salmon are in the system now. Endangered sucker fish are in the system now. If we can use these refuges to help recover these species and take the pressure off of the water supplies from the biological opinions, ducks are going to come along for the ride because really all the ducks need, as they need water on the refuges, they don't care why it's there or how it got there, just the fact that it is there. And if we can get it there because it's helping recovering endangered species or it's helping because it's beneficial for agriculture, all the more reason to be able to do the types of work that we're doing. Okay, so it sounds like there's a dream, there's this sort of building momentum to try to get this done, trying to negotiate and navigate around some of the legal issues, make sure we're not running a foul of those. But then even once you get all of those things taken care of, we still have to pay for this because of the significant pumping cost associated with it. What's happening there? You got to get that in place as well because the resources to actually put this into action, it's just another idea. And I suspect, you know, that people, there's been no shortage of ideas proposed over the years out there. And so that might be some, you know, people might have some trepidation about another new idea, but you got to be able to deliver on this, right? What are we doing to help make that happen? Absolutely. And we live in a managed water said and Clameth is a highly managed system. So there's several pump stations that are going to have to move the water once it gets down into the refuges. So there's a deep plant that goes from Tully Lake to lower Clameth. And then from lower Clameth, the water gravity drains in the straight strain. And then from straight strain, it gets pumped out by the Clameth drain is district, it back into the river. So those two pump stations are going to be key for this to happen. And it's not going to be cheap. So funding this is is an additional cost that wasn't anticipated by anybody. So do you with leadership from California Waterfell Association from Tully Lake irrigation district from Clameth drain is district are all building up our funding to be able to support this effort when the deal finally gets announced if it gets announced. And and that part of money is really going to what's at the end of the day save the ducks just getting the water is one thing turning on the pumps is an entirely different thing. So what's the most important thing for your listeners to know on this particular topic like if they have questions, is there a place where they can go to learn more is that what's what's the take home for the people? The take over for the people is that there is a community of people and organizations working diligently behind the scenes to save these ducks and to make the world a little bit better in the Clameth basin. The conservation partners, California Waterfell, DU along with our Tully Lake irrigation district, Clameth drain is district, Clameth irrigation district, water users, uruk tribe, crew tribe, Clameth tribes, pure reclamation, fish wildlife service, national meet fisheries, they're all working behind the scenes as fast as we possibly can knowing that a disaster's outbreak is right around the corner. It takes the community to do all this. This is not one entity doing this alone. It is a massive effort to try and get this done as soon as we possibly can. And and so you know there's a lot of ways for people to engage. I'm sure you know support these conservation organizations work through those to stay informed. You know people care about this resource and people want to stay up to date on on on what's happening when there are things for people to do for people to contribute. I mean it's always an opportunity to contribute philanthropically to all of these organizations that are in the fight that are in the game that are trying to help come to an agreeable solution. It's not easy. It's easy. It had been done a long time ago. That's right. And so it takes engagement and it takes support from a variety of types and a variety of of groups. From our standpoint we care about this area because of its profound importance for waterfowls, specifically the Pacific flyway. I want to I want to start wrapping this up by reminding people why this area is so important for ducks unlimited. Why it is such a high priority for us. Why it is so important for waterfowl populations at a continental scale. And and I think people would also be surprised to learn that we're investing in some innovative science projects, some related to fish that are helping to demonstrate or trying to understand the role of these wetlands in supporting some of these fish populations. And we're trying to, through all of our work, trying to connect the dots in a more holistic fashion. But at the end of the day, for us, it comes back to trying to sustain the system because of its importance to ducks and geese, mostly ducks, as the case as it plays out. So Dan, I want to, I think, flip this back to you and help people, help remind people of the importance of that region. Sure, Mike. So, when we think about the Southern Pacific flyway, we're thinking about just a handful of places on that landscape. You know, the West is very large geographically, but from a duck standpoint, there's only a handful of places to go that are consistently wet. The climate base in this one of those. And so, as we start to see drawing, as we start to see multi-year droughts, there's even fewer and fewer places. And as that whole Southern Pacific flyway really loses resiliency, these ducks are relying on just a couple of spots and climate becomes in place where all these birds start to aggregate. And they're here for literally every part of a waterfowl's life cycle. We have birds moving north to south, coming down from Alaska and the boreal forests of Canada. But we also have birds moving from south to north as it becomes spring and summer right now. And so, really, this kind of gem of the West is providing habitat all across the year. And so, right now, we're seeing huge numbers of breeding water found in the area. And when you break it down under the proportions of birds that it supports from the Pacific flyway, it starts to get pretty impressive. It's variable. You know, we have different years, and so we have different proportions. But it's a pretty important place for us to focus on. It's places for birds to raise new ducklings, to stage and fall, and even over winter if conditions are right. So, we really want to see this habitat remain on that landscape because it is so unique and so special. So, Dan, I'm thinking about sort of the most immediate concern relates to avian botulism. We need to get some more water in there to help reduce the impact of that outbreak, to help slow sort of arrest that impact, and then get us back to a situation where those birds that were produced this year can survive and fledge and then be added to the fall flight. That's like a super important near term thing we're trying to accomplish, some of the things that Jeff was talking about. But I mean, even if we get that, and what is the, I mean, can we look forward and try to opine about what habitat conditions are going to be this fall. I mean, this is just sort of one part of it. Like, as you said, this region, this area, these wetlands are critical to waterfowl throughout the annual cycle in that location. Critical to waterfowl hunters that love chase these birds once fall and winter rolls around. What are we, I mean, what are we thinking? What are the prospects for any type of opportunities for hunting and wetland conditions as we get into the fall and winter? Yeah, I mean, that's going to be a really good question. I think it's at the forefront of our mics right now. I think there's certainly opportunity for certain fall habitat, but as this area dries, it's really dependent on rain. And so we're going to have to see some weather come through to actually start to recharge or refill these wetlands with fresh water. So it's going to be a bit difficult. And if we're not adding birds to that fall flight population, it's going to be a pretty kind of sad site. And we know from decade or, excuse me, almost over a century of research that we really need to have this annual production of waterfowl to produce really stable and huntable populations of waterfowls. So that's really what we want to see. Jeff, I want to come back to you and sort of offer you some opportunity for some closing remarks. I've identified a lot of the partners that we're working with. What are any of the other take-home points that we may not have thus far covered? I know there's a lot of conservation work going on at the hands of ducks unlimited and a lot of our partners. We have plans to record some future episodes that will cover that work in a lot more detail. But with regard to the current botulism outbreak, the remedies that we are pursuing near-term and long-term, anything else that you want to leave our listeners with. Mike, I think that there's a short game and a long game like you're talking about. The short game is definitely working on a collaborative water deal about doing something different for this year. The long game is a very concerted effort to not only restore habitat in the climate base and reconnect the water where it once flowed is also really important. And we need pumps. And it's going to take a community. We're wrapping up our phase two and three of the largest freshwater restoration project. Maybe in the country at the Barnes Agency site. We've got several pumps that are going in on the lower climate and too late to recirculate that water. We're going to be working with TID and California Waterfell Association on those pumps. We've got an extra massive restoration project on climate marsh. We're looking at understanding the relationship between endangered fish and wetlands, understanding the relationship between lower clamath and groundwater discharge into the river. All of these things combined, the science on the ground projects, the politics, the relationship building, all of these things are working towards a long-term solution in the climate base. And one that's multi beneficial, everybody sees themselves in and of course benefits waterfell and waterfell hunters at the end of the day. Jeff and Dan, we appreciate you joining us to give us an update on this. It is one of the most important areas for waterfell on the continent and that's why we work so hard to make sure that that place has a future, has a place for, has a future for waterfell, has a future for all of the waterfell, all the water users of that area, the fish in that area. It's not an easy, there's not an easy solution and we're going to continue to be in the game and we appreciate all the support from our partners, from our members, from the people that care about it. And if you want to learn more, you can go to ducks.org/clamath. A very special thanks to our guest on today's episode, Jeff McGree, a director of operations for ducks and limited western region and Dr. Dan Smith, our waterfell scientist out in the western region. We appreciate their insight in updating us on this important development out in the climate. As always, we thank our producer, Chris Isaac, for the great work that he does and we thank you for your support of wetlands and waterfell conservation. What's a wrap for today's episode of the Ducks Unlimited podcast brought to you by Bird Dog Whiskey in Cocktails. From post hunt unwinds to celebrations back at camp, Bird Dog delivers award-winning flavor to every moment and join responsibly. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe and check out duckst.org/dupodcast for more stories, science and all things waterfell. Guest opinions are their own and don't necessarily reflect those of Ducks Unlimited. Until next time, stay fired up, stay focused and stay tuned to the Ducks. Get ready, outdoor enthusiasts. The Ducks Unlimited Expo presented by Purina Pro Plant is back in Memphis, July 31 through August 2, 2026 at the Renaissance Convention Center. Experience the ultimate celebration of hunting, conservation and the outdoor lifestyle. Talk with vendors from around the world, shop the latest gear, apparel and hunting accessories, learn from the biggest names in the industry and connect with people just like you. Join us for the largest waterfell expo in the country, July 31 through August 2, 2026 at the Renaissance Convention Center. Ducks Unlimited Expo, Memphis, 2026.