Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Aug10/01) - A pickup hauling a large airboat rolls into a Fort Providence store where three occupants load up on groceries and fuel. Its anonymous licence plate is intriguing, as it reads simply, "U.S. Government." A big dog waits obediently in the cab.

U.S. government biologist John Solberg and his dog Tazzy. - Dave Sullivan/NNSL Photo

The CIA? Maybe a big drug operation on Canada's Northern wetlands?

At six-foot-three, sporting dark shades and an American drawl, John Solberg could easily fill the role of a U.S. drug enforcement agent.

He and the small team are really after pintail ducks. At least that's their story, and they're sticking to it.

No, the ducks aren't flying drugs across the border. Their numbers are dropping, and his mission is to help find out why.

Solberg is a biologist. He's interested Canadian pintails and to a lesser extent, mallards, because part of the year ducks are American citizens. U.S. hunters are worried about their decline. His team spends each August in a camp at Horn River, 30 kilometres downstream from Fort Providence.

It turns out 15 such camps in Canada have been in place since 1964. Some are American, some Canadian, while some are run jointly.

"Ducks are an international resource. They don't know if they're in the Northwest Territories or Cuba," he says. "With proper management, there can be enough birds for everyone."

The main job at the camps is banding the ducks. That's done by trapping them in wire weirs baited with grain. Hunters everywhere are encouraged to turn the bands into wildlife officials, so scientists can get a better handle on travel itineraries. At all the camps, an estimated 150,000 ducks are banded every year, about 3,000 of those in NWT.

Nobody knows for sure why ducks are dying off, but Solberg suspects a link with disappearing habitat and prairie drought.

They're not endangered, but fit into a "species of concern" category.

This is the 13th year Solberg has worked in the Northwest Territories. He drove the truck from his home in Bismark, N.D.

"I've enjoyed my interaction with Fort Providence. I hope we keep coming back."