Insights

By Don Young, Executive Vice President

Breeding Grounds in Jeopardy
Waterfowl hunters must take action to save the prairie potholes

Changes to how the Clean Water Act is interpreted could have the potential for significant adverse impacts on continental waterfowl populations. To prevent this, hunters must be prepared to oppose action that could negate decades of wetlands conservation efforts on critical prairie pothole breeding grounds, key migratory staging areas, and important wintering sites. The future of waterfowling as we know it may hang in the balance.

Ducks Unlimited has actively voiced its concern on this matter, and now all waterfowl enthusiasts should step up to support protection of valuable wetland habitat for the waterfowl resource we treasure.

A two-year-old Supreme Court decision has sparked an acceleration of the current rate of wetlands loss. Since 1972, when Congress passed the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers have enforced the Clean Water Act’s wetlands protection provisions on most waters and wetlands—ranging from small, isolated, seasonal potholes to bottomland hardwood wetlands, and to major lakes and waterways.
Based on its accomplishments, the Clean Water Act has been one of the nation’s most successful environmental programs. Now, based on the Supreme Court decision, we face an important question: Should the federal government continue to protect the “isolated” wetlands that produce the vast majority of waterfowl in the United States? If accelerated losses of these critically important wetland habitats occur, there is no question that duck populations will suffer.

A respected U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist has predicted the court’s decision could lead to periodic closure of duck hunting if it is wrongly applied.

After a thorough review by its senior staff and full board of directors, Ducks Unlimited concluded that the organization must weigh in on this matter, given the potential waterfowl and wetland habitat implications. Ducks Unlimited recently submitted in-depth, science-based comments to the Environmental Protection Agency as it considers how it should react to the Supreme Court’s decision. The EPA effort is the first step in changing federal rules, and a bad decision could eliminate protection of millions of acres of wetlands most important for waterfowl.

After completing a comprehensive study, Ducks Unlimited scientists have determined that even though some wetlands would continue to be protected by other state and federal laws, an excessively broad interpretation of the court decision will have significant adverse consequences for U.S. wetlands and waterfowl conservation. Among other things, the DU study noted that more than 65 percent of the prairie pothole wetlands in the U.S. have already been lost, and 80 percent of those remaining could lose long-standing protection under the Clean Water Act. Other valuable federal programs offer incentives to protect and restore wetlands, but they face political challenges and potential funding cuts. Even if these programs survive those challenges, they alone are not sufficient to do the job. Depending on how the Supreme Court decision is applied, an extraordinary number of wetlands could potentially be vulnerable to filling or drainage.

Congress is now considering two proposed laws, S. 473 and H.R. 962, that overturn the Supreme Court decision and say once and for all that all wetlands and waters of the U.S. deserve federal protection.

Today’s waterfowlers have a responsibility to both our hunting ancestors and to our children and grandchildren to save these wetlands and the ducks associated with them. DU is working to help ensure a future for North American waterfowl, but all of us—you, me, our family members, our friends, the outdoor press, the sporting industry, and others—must deliver the message that this really matters to us. We make it easy for you to do that. To send a message to the White House, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Congress, go to www.ducks.org, click on the flashing “Take Action” button, and tell Washington how important this issue is.