Due to what the DNR describes as a highly pathogenic avian flu that has already affected
both wild birds and commercial flocks, relocation of merganser ducks and Canada geese
will not be permitted this year. So for 2022, Swimmer’s Itch solutions will not be trapping
and relocating merganser broods this summer and we will not be conducting our Canada
goose round up as we had in past years in late June. How this will affect Higgins Lake
this summer remains to be seen.
In the past two summers we have not had merganser broods on the lake and relocation
was not necessary. But the zero brood scenario was highly unusual and seems unlikely
to continue. An important result of our relocation program that began in 2015 is that the
snail infection rate of the SI cycle has been kept to an extremely low percentage. Our
program has definitely been a factor in keeping mergansers from returning in the
numbers that we had seen in the past, but yearly migration does allow for new birds to
view Higgins Lake as a breeding ground.
For now, we will be pursuing whatever paths may be available to us and that we feel may
help reduced SI on Higgins Lake. We have some thoughts about what we may be able to
do and we have some research ideas to think about, but the relocation program is on
hold.
We would ask that everyone continue to report broods and Swimmer’s Itch cases by
using the link found here on the website. We will use the information to continue our data
to analyze for future reference.