Jeff’s off chasing summer vacation, so Carson Odegard grabs a mic with CWA egg-salvage guru Jason Coslovich - Egg Salvage Program Coordinator, Waterfowl Biologist and Robert “Rob” Jones—the volunteer dynamo keeping the North Delta Duck Hatchery clucking along since the early 2000s. Pull a chair up to the brooder and hear how a ramshackle 1996 shed on Tyler Island now kicks out 500 wild mallards a year, why 92 percent of rescued eggs actually hatch, and what it takes to relocate the whole outfit before next spring’s first quack.

Talking points

• Eggs to wings: the combine-to-incubator relay that turns field-found clutches into fly-ready ducks—and the ten-by-ten room that makes it happen.
• Volunteer grind: daily pen scrubs, smartweed jungles, and the slick system that’s banded 15,000 birds (plus one 93-year-old mentor who still shows up).
• Where bands wander: mallards released in June near Sacramento, shot five years later in Idaho, Oregon—even Arkansas.
• Moving day: why the Tyler Island pens are closing, the plan for a fresh build next door to the annual barn dinner, and the $100 K they need to pull it off.
• Get your hands dirty: how farmers, hunters, and city folks can salvage nests, run feed buckets, or simply donate a few bucks to keep the pumps humming.

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In this new episode—part three of our California history series—Jeff Smith and Carson Odegard close out the Klamath Basin saga and head south to the 240,000-acre Grasslands, where water rights, teal limits, and hard-fought tradition still rule the marsh.

Topics include:

Klamath’s boom-to-bust timeline—from 100,000-duck openers in ’52 to today’s drought-strangled refuge drama

Miller & Lux’s canal gamble that turned alkali flats into duck country and sparked 180 active clubs

Jay Martin Winton vs. the Bureau of Reclamation—the bare-knuckle fight that created the Grasslands Water District and still floods your blind every fall

Small-gauge, big smiles—why teal limits, wigeon straps, and tight-knit club culture make the Grasslands the most approachable duck scene in the state

Habitat truths—cocklebur takeovers, raven predation, and the management grind needed to keep mallards finishing today

The next battle on the horizon: a 20-foot high-speed-rail viaduct aimed straight through prime wetlands—and how locals are pushing back

Plus: steamboat blinds on Lower Klamath and the mystery of the lost-and-found clubs.

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In this new episode and part two of this series, Jeff Smith and Carson Odegard dive deeper with Yancey Forest‑Knowles to unpack decades of waterfowling history and hard‑won conservation lessons from California’s most fought‑over wetlands.

Topics include:

The rise of the Butte Sink and why rice water still floods those blinds each opener

Inside stories from private clubs: habitat tricks that keep mallards finishing

How competing water laws and drought squeeze the Klamath Refuge—and what can fix it

Take‑home tips for keeping birds working in any marsh

🦆 Like what you’re hearing? Hit follow, drop a quick review, and share the link with your blind buddies—your support keeps these conversations rolling and the flyway thriving.