Oil Spill at Chalk Point

Oiled Ruddy Duck

Restored Pothole Wetland

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To mitigate for the loss of ruddy ducks due to an oil spill, 1,850 acres of nesting habitat has been protected or restored in North Dakota and South Dakota. Restoring farmland in the Prairie Pothole Region to perennial grass cover will result in increased nesting habitat, which will, in turn, produce additional ruddy ducks and enhance wintering ruddy duck populations on the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay.

In April 2000, a pipeline ruptured, spilling more than 140,000 gallons of oil into Maryland's Patuxent River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. The spill injured or destroyed wetlands, beaches, and wildlife, including resident birds and migratory waterfowl.

The spill was especially devastating to ruddy ducks. More than 550 ruddy ducks were lost to the spill, including those killed outright and the young they would have produced.

To compensate for lost ducks the natural resources trustee agencies, including the Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the State of Maryland, calculated that 1,850 acres of nesting habitat needed to be restored.  This Summer that goal was reached.

Ruddy ducks are migratory. They breed in the prairie pothole wetlands of the Midwest, including portions of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and southern Canada. Prairie potholes are grassy, water-holding depressions of glacial origin. These potholes provide the most productive wetland habitat for waterfowl in North America.