Yep, we don’t have many rats, mink and fox but beaver, otter, cats and coyotes. All animals that were not here or hardly here in the eighties.

PA Game Commission was collecting ‘rat carcasses in the late 80’s for the same type of study. I’m sure many other game agencies study the population decline. I’ve seen white spots on the livers; darn booze I guess
They ought to exchange info.

I agree. My favorite rat marsh has been steadily getting worse. It's several hundred acres and used to be good for 1000+ rats. Last year I caught 145. The cattails used to be so tall you couldn't see over them. If you didn't know your way, you could get turned around. Now you can see for miles. There's huge dead areas with hardly anything growing. It's a managed waterfowl area and nothing gets done there. If you ask they say it's managed for waterfowl not muskrats. Well, the duck hunting sucks now, too. It's turning into an old, dead marsh.

I started trapping in the 70’s and every small stream had rats in it. Hawks and owls had a standing death sentence in the country because almost everyone had chickens for eggs to eat. I saw my grandpa and my dad go back to the house to get a rifle if they saw a red tail sitting on the electric line. Steel traps why set year round on a post beside the hen house. I first moved into an apartment in 1982 in town. There was a small stream running behind it. I took 12 rats out of it In a week. 2 mink and several coons . Few years back beavers stopped it up and I caught them out for the city. No rats to be found. The bank had not changed . But I can shoot hawks off my patio about any day of the week. Now rats are almost impossible to find. A drive on a local road on overcast snow coming days and you will see hawks everywhere. Owls that you hardly saw back then are common everywhere.
My 2 cents.

You may be right. Hopefully this study will find out. Maybe it's a combination of things.

Drought,Owls,hawks, otter and great blue herons are the reason they are gone in my area. I've observed herons praying on them many times while out there and have witnessed several otters root out and catch a rat from an overhanging bank. Those otter looked like they had that strategy down pat , one went under the bank while 2 others waited for the rat to get spooked out and it was game over for the rat. They kill several rats a day that way over the course of a year that's close to a thousand rats. The herons find the dens with the smokey runways and wait there till the rats emerge then bam- gotten. I've seen herons kill young rats and get them down their throats in less than a minute- probably 45 seconds. You can imagine how many a single heron takes in a year. Dont need a college degree in wildlife management to figure out why they are disappearing here.

This is a multi state study IIRC. Ohio is also doing a collection.

Got to find one to collect the carcass is big problem

Best I can see around here, the only way the old marshes (open with maybe some dead timber ) change is when theres money from DU to fund the project. I haven’t seen the state do anything on its own. The reclaimed marshes vary in habitat but many turn back to cattails

What’s wrong with cattails?

I agree DU is a pioneer in enhancements. Enhancements mimic nature and recycle marshes back to their full potential. Full potential wetlands create muskrats and ducks. Healthy marshes are not specie specific. When you have productive core areas adjacent water bodies carry residual populations. It’s spreading, cyclic and natural. The alternative is as sjc spoke dead marsh or stagnant.

State agencies fall short. They’re stuck in the mud, doing autopsys and “managing for ducks” lol. Does that surprise you?

When a marsh is riding on “full potential “. There ain’t enough predators to slow the machine.

Again IMHO.

here the cattails are gone, I'm sure it's the zebra mussels, they clean up the water, so nothing left for anything to grow,

The muskrat population in our Local Lake Ontario Lakeshore marshes
has apparently crashed after being somewhat high for the last decade.

The international joint commission which regulates the water levels
on Lake Ontario & the St. Lawrence River for Canada & the United States
has been experimenting with various water levels both very high
& very low to try and rehabilitate the marshes that have stagnated
and filled in due to static water levels caused by the operation
of the St, Lawrence Seaway.

Invasive Cattail, Purple Loosestrife, & the
non-native variety of Invasive Phragmites have
exploded in habitat killing, mono-culture, dead zones
which is choking out our native aquatic, emergent vegetation
which provides the food supply for our muskrats.

Meanwhile our county's Dairy Industry is rapidly expanding
beyond the carrying capacity of the land & soil.

Small Family farms have been gobbled up by Large corporate
CAFO's which have added 10's of 1000's of additional cows
and adopted Liquid manure spreading techniques on our shallow
soils which means uncontrolled runoff into our marshes resulting
in lethal (BOD) biological oxygen demand choking the marshes
ability to produce ducks, muskrats, shore wading birds, etc.

Throw in an over-abundance of predators
like protected snapping turtles along with
too many hawks, owls, eagles, & great blue herons
and our muskrats don't stand a chance
with this "Perfect Storm" of negative causational effects
that combine to eliminate our muskrat populations.

w

By invasive cattails are you referring to phragmites?

I believe the invasive cattails he is referring to is the narrow leaf variety. If you notice when we were young the cattail seed pods were taller than the leaves not you can't see the seed pods cause the leaves are so tall. The narrow leafed type choke out the broad leaf native cattails. Also when the two hybridize they are more aggressive than either parent species

No,

There are two types of Cattail.

One is non-native & invasive. (narrowleaf) (Typha angustafolia)

The other is native & indigenous. (broadleaf) (Typha latifolia)

Also two species of Phragmities;

Non-native & invasive: (Phragmities australis ssp australis)

Native & indigenous: (Phragmities australis ssp americanus)

Both non-native, invasive cattail & phragmities
are harmful to marsh muskrat habitat.

walleyed

You are drinking the Kool-aid. Yes phragmities isn’t good muskrat habitat. However the best swamp I’ve ever trapped was primarily narrow leaf. Into the 5 digits in one season with a partner and no Spring season. Cookie cutter beauties to boot. Lasted a few years when draw down coupled with drought caused vegetation to grow out of control into an impenetrable mat or wall.

Some one discovered them some years ago when trappers started complaining of declines and made the connection that narrow leaf is the reason.

No,

Not drinking the cool-aid by a long shot.

Just repeating the mantra put forth by our NYS fur bearer biologists
that the native broadleaf cattail was more readily grazed upon by the muskrat,

and that cattail stands dominated by invasive narrowleaf tended to produce
a thick, dry-land, mono-culture, expanse of terra firma over time
that was less useful for muskrat habitat, and was negative impact to, & competition
for, our native, aquatic, emergent vegetation that was more beneficial to rat production.

I'd sooner trust you regarding high level muskratology than any
book smart, college trained, fur biologist from NYS any day. lol

w

What you describe is a stagnant marsh. All species of cattails have those characteristics. Only wide leaf only grows denser. Lol

It is a good observation but a characteristic of mature marshes and it’s inevitable. Starting over is the challenge. Restoration

Walleyed I appreciate your knowledge and am convinced you share a passion for wetlands and muskrats

I have a hunch that industrial ag chemicals might have something to do with what appears to be a huge decline in 'rat numbers across a vast part of the USA.

I would be great to see some research done.