Insights

By Don Young, Executive Vice President

DU and the Canadian Government Partner in Developing Agricultural Policy that benefits Ducks

Present and past DU members can take pride in Ducks Unlimited having recently reached the significant milestone of conserving 11 million acres of waterfowl habitat collectively in all 50 states, each of the Canadian provinces, and in key areas of Mexico. Of course, conserving habitat will always be a key part of the DU mission, and we will continue to perform on-the-ground habitat conservation, restoration, and management projects whenever we can and wherever they are needed and will accomplish the greatest benefits for the ducks.

But working with landowners and other conservation-minded partners to save unspoiled landscapes and improve deteriorated habitats isn’t the only thing DU does to benefit waterfowl and other wildlife. We also work to educate, inform, and advise the public at large and public-policy makers of the benefits of conserving wetland and upland habitats, not only for wildlife, but also for people.

To accomplish our goals for on-the-ground conservation work, then, we must also assure those who formulate public policy of the importance of safeguarding natural habitat for the public’s well-being as well as for wildlife. After all, sound public policy decisions are as important as abundant rain on the prairies when it comes to maintaining and forwarding quality-of-life issues for wildlife as well as people.

This is why DU volunteers and staff members work so vigorously and conscientiously with Congress and other decision makers in our nation’s capital to develop and fund Farm Bill programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetland Reserve Program, and the Grasslands Reserve Program, all of which benefit private landowners as well as wildlife.

We are excited to report highly encouraging public policy news from north of the border (see page 48, “Farming for Waterfowl in Canada”). Working hand in hand with the Canadian federal government, DU has played a vital role in shaping Canada’s agricultural policy in a way that will positively affect waterfowl and the habitats they depend on. The federal government’s new agricultural strategy, with the involvement of all the Canadian provinces, will deliver programs that include conservation components. One of these is the new Greencover Canada program, designed to convert 700,000 acres of cropland to duck-producing nesting cover.

And back in the United States, helping to formulate and preserve good public policy is why several times each year DU staff members might testify before congressional committees and subcommittees (see “DU News,” page 12) regarding the importance of continuing national conservation programs and adequately funding them. It is why we maintain a DU office staffed with knowledgeable employees in Washington, D.C., experts who can counsel congressmen and –women and their administrative aides on conservation-related legislation, while also providing them with important biological background information. It is why influential DU leaders like DU President John Tomke are invited to visit President Bush in the White House to relate DU’s concerns regarding administration policies beneficial to wetlands and waterfowl conservation (see “DU News” on page 10 of the Jan/Feb 2004 issue, and page 20 of this issue’s “Mixed Bag” on USFWS changes relating to expediting conservation easements).

Saving habitat for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people means more than securing conservation easements, establishing water-control structures, building levees, and other habitat work. Those activities will always be essential—and highly visible—components of what we do to accomplish our mission. But helping shape sound public policy and legislation important to wildlife, waterfowl hunters, and other people who appreciate the beauty of our natural resources will be, while perhaps less visible, no less an essential aspect of achieving DU’s goals. As we have seen, sound public policy can be as good as rain.