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Ep. 95 From Survey to Season: CDFW’s Melanie Weaver on California’s 2025 BPOP
Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist) Melanie Weaver joins Jeff and Carson to explain how California’s Breeding Population (BPOP) survey is flown, what this year’s numbers say, and how those data drive next year’s hunting frameworks. Weaver details the fixed-wing transect method, why multi-year wet cycles matter, and why harvest regulations follow a structured, flyway-wide model rather than gut checks.
In this episode:
How the survey works — nine strata statewide, low-altitude fixed-wing transects, and trained observers reading birds at speed.
2025 headline numbers — total ducks up ~27%…
The skinny
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