News Photo by Mike Gonzalez From left, Lucas Baker, Jordan Pilarski, Kyle Greer, and Alex Birch work on hen mallard nesting structures for the Sunrise Side Chapter of Delta Waterfowl in Greer’s garage on Sunday.

ALPENA — As a part of Alpena Wildlife Sanctuary Board’s efforts to restore and add new additions to local lakes and parks, the Sunrise Side Chapter of Delta Waterfowl constructed 14 hen mallard nesting structures for safe nesting locations to increase the duck populations.

The structures are simple: mesh chicken wire wrapped up into a tub with hay packed in its lining to create an insulated, soft nesting area for ducks.

Kyle Greer, chair of Sunrise Side Chapter, said hen mallards try to find good places to nest and lay eggs, but with typically low survival rates to hatch.

“A typical survival rate for a nest on the ground is about 8%,” Greer said. “If we put them in a hen house, there’s a 60 to 80% success rate of that nest actually hatching. The key is getting away from the ground because we’re getting away from raccoons and other animals that want to eat the eggs.”

This upcoming weekend, Greer, volunteers, and other members of the Alpena chapter will come out to Lake Besser to install the nesting structures, keeping them three to five feet above the water and three to five feet away from the lake edge to keep predators away.

Sunrise Side Chapter received a $1,299 grant for the project with an original goal of creating 16 nesting structures. However, because of higher resource prices, Greer said they could only build 14 structures.

Greer said the Sunrise Side Chapter of duck hunting conservation group Delta Waterfowl formed on Jan. 20 and includes local hunters and fishermen who want to increase animal populations, bring more outdoor events to younger generations, and protect the future of outdoor sports.

“Delta has always had a very good base of hunters and getting the youth involved, and that’s what I want to do for our area,” Greer said. “I want to get more kids involved in hunting sports because we don’t know what the sport might look like 20 years from now. I’ve seen big changes in my life and if I can protect the ability for the following generations to duck hunt or to at least see ducks and geese, I’ll put in as much work as I can.”

All four men who participated in building the duck nesting structures shared similar sentiments, with Alex Birch saying that he wants to support duck repopulation and hunting for Northeast Michigan.

Birch said he’s supported other conservation groups, but said that he’s especially happy with the Sunrise Side Chapter’s “boots-on-the-ground” approach.

“I have supported Rogers City Ducks Unlimited for a number of years and they do a lot of great things, but I personally have not seen as much immediate impact in the local area,” Birch said. “Both entities do great things, but I’m finding that this chapter is more boots-on-the-ground in the area in which we’re living, so I think it’s going to be perfect because one supports the other. We’re not looking to compete for anything – we’re looking to build off of each other.”