Ducks Unlimited's Annual Report
By Matt Young, Senior Writer
For the year ending February 29, 2000
Ducks Unlimited's strength has grown from a passion for the outdoors and a deep desire to leave something better behind. Today that passion and desire persist, evidenced by stronger-than-ever support for the DU mission.
In Fiscal Year 2000, DU members, volunteers, staff, and partners teamed up to break all previous records for fundraising, membership, and conservation. These concerned conservationists raised more than $131 million for DU, eclipsing last year's record by $13 million. Membership was also at an all-time high-more than 733,000 people signed up to be part of the DU team. That money and that hard work translated into more than 639,000 acres of habitat restored, protected, or enhanced throughout North America-another new record. DU's conservation programs are more important now than ever before.
As society's needs for places to live grow, there are increased pressures on an ever-diminishing amount of wildlife habitat. Indeed, in some places there are less than 20 percent of the original wetlands remaining relative to 100 years ago.
The urgency for DU's conservation efforts is thus high. And DU is committed to finding solutions to these pressing problems. DU's conservation efforts depend on aggressive fundraising. Central to this is an expansive event system, in which more than 50,000 volunteers give of their time and effort to raise the majority of DU's annual revenues. That inspiring spirit of volunteerism is the driving force behind an ongoing habitat success story.
Building Homes for Wildlife
Since its founding, Ducks Unlimited's core mission has been to restore wetlands and other habitats for the benefit of waterfowl. Today that mission endures, and DU's projects and initiatives are planned in key waterfowl areas across North America and beyond.
The diversity of habitats and wildlife that depend upon them is greater in the western U. S. than any other region in North America. The challenges faced in restoring and protecting these important areas are also varied, but key to them are issues of human population growth, urban sprawl, and water. In places like California's Central Valley, the coastal and riparian systems of the Pacific Northwest, and freshwater wetlands associated with the Great Salt Lake, DU is working with partners to secure the future for waterfowl in the face of increasing pressures from man.
DU's traditional work of conserving wetlands and associated uplands is firmly established in the West and is having a meaningful impact on all wetland systems that are critical to waterfowl's nomadic chain of life. During the past fiscal year, DU completed 156 projects in the region, which protected 13,307 acres and restored and enhanced 146,567 acres.
