Counting Wings, Protecting Traditions

For waterfowl hunters, the thrill of the season is rooted in deep connections to wetlands, weather, and wildlife. Behind every successful hunt lies careful science and someone deeply invested in wetland resources providing sustainable harvest opportunities. In South Carolina, that person is Molly Kneece, State Waterfowl Program leader with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR).

You don’t have to spend much time with Kneece to learn that duck habitat, and duck dogs are rarely far from her thoughts. On a cold winter morning, it is not unusual for her to be tucked away in a wetland alongside her Labrador Retriever, Kate.

“We work all year on the science and integrating that information into our habitat management decisions,” Kneece says. “In our off time, it’s dog training and hunt tests, which keeps us right in the mix of duck hunters from across the southeast. Duck season is special for Kate and me. It’s what we work for every day throughout the year.” 

Between time spent in the field and her research and management work, Kneece brings a perspective that bridges the traditions and needs of waterfowl hunters across the state with rigorous ecological science. Kneece has 16 years of formal experience in waterfowl research and management on her resume. That all began in 2011, walking tidal impoundments in the low country, tracking mottled ducks outfitted with radio transmitters and looking for nests.

“You gain a lot of knowledge linking observations about habitat conditions to duck behavior, especially when you do it daily for multiple years,” she said. “On top of that, being able to mentor under managers with 30, 40, 50 or more years of habitat management experience and discuss those habitat changes. That was and continues to be invaluable to my career today. I still call and bounce management ideas and research questions off those same managers.”

“Molly’s tenacity, dedication, and strong academic foundation, including her master’s thesis work in the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto River Basins, made her exceptionally well-prepared for the realities of successful coastal wetland management. Never afraid to try new approaches, she treated both successes and setbacks as opportunities to refine her craft,” said Achi Treptow, SCDNR’s Upper Coastal Waterfowl Project leader and manager of the Santee Coastal Reserve Wildlife Management Area.

Kneece’s 2016 master’s thesis, “Breeding and Brood Rearing Ecology of Mottled Ducks in the ACE Basin of South Carolina,” provides foundational knowledge about how mottled ducks, a prized game species for coastal hunters, use coastal habitats throughout the year. She found that managed wetland impoundments are important to breeding and brood rearing mottled ducks in coastal South Carolina, demonstrating how habitat conditions affect nest success and duck survival.

In published scientific research, Kneece has co-authored studies on mottled duck survival and habitat use that have direct implications for current habitat management. Her work in the 2020 SEAFWA Journal, “Survival and Recovery of Mottled Ducks in Coastal South Carolina, 2008-2018,” uses banding and band recovery data to estimate annual survival and harvest rates for the species. This type of population monitoring experience helps wildlife managers set hunting seasons and maintain sustainable harvest levels, a key goal for hunters who want abundant birds year after year. 

Since 2023, Kneece has been working with SCDNR waterfowl area biologists and managers to implement strategic habitat surveys to estimate the amount of food energy produced and available for waterfowl for the entire winter migration period.

“In 2023 and 2024, we worked to establish baseline data by estimating waterfowl energy days (WEDs) on our waterfowl areas.” WED estimates inform managers of how many waterfowl one acre of habitat can support for one day on their properties. That number provides managers with an estimate of the amount of food they grew for the season in individual impoundments and across their waterfowl areas. We can use this information to determine if we are providing adequate resources for waterfowl throughout the entire migration season.”

This survey tool also provides managers with scientific feedback to make habitat management decisions for the upcoming growing season.

“If WEDs for a specific impoundment declined from the previous season, that information allows managers to make informed decisions about which management lever they need to pull in the coming year. That may introduce fire or disking, and it may even cue a manager to improve water drainage in an area. The habitat surveys and WED estimates provide our biologists and managers the tools to critically and efficiently make habitat management decisions to increase food production on our waterfowl areas.”

By helping identify which impoundments best support ducks in South Carolina and meet their energetic needs during migration, her thorough research guides habitat restoration projects that improve food and cover for birds, ultimately enhancing hunting opportunities.

“It takes an entire team of biologists and managers to determine what work needs to occur during these restoration projects and how to execute that work. In 2024, a restoration project was completed on Santee Delta WMA. Once the infrastructure renovation was complete, we began habitat improvements. It’s been exciting to watch staff use their experience and apply the science. The habitat on Santee Delta has responded tremendously with increased plant diversity and seed production, which is just what we need to attract waterfowl back to that area. Habitat, duck abundance, and harvest on Santee Delta all improved during the 2025-2026 waterfowl season,” Kneece said. “That property is a great example of what can be accomplished when we complete a large-scale renovation project, then let staff use their training and management tools to apply the science to restore the habitat. Given time, ducks will respond.”

Santee Delta WMA is a past DU project, done in partnership with the SCDNR.

For the duck hunter, that means more than numbers; it means seasons that reflect the latest science, habitat restored where ducks thrive, and a conservation ethic that respects both tradition and the long-term health of the species.

“This is one of the things I live for, time in the marsh, working birds and watching Kate do her thing. It highlights the reward for the effort we put in all year, but each winter reminds me that there is always more work to do. We have the right folks to do the work, though,” Kneece said.