Ten Million Acres & Counting

By Laura Houseal

Ducks Unlimited celebrates a conservation milestone

Ducks Unlimited is celebrating a milestone: It has now conserved 10 million acres of habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. As an organization committed to ensuring wetlands and waterfowl for the future, it's not often that Ducks Unlimited dwells on the past, but at this 10-million-acre landmark, it's worth taking a look back to DU's founding fathers, and the generations who kept DU's mission alive despite war, recession, drought, and depression. If nothing else, the story of DU's first 10 million acres should inspire the members of today and generations of tomorrow to conserve 10 million more acres . . . and then some.

"Ten million acres is an impressive number," says DU Chief Biologist Bruce Batt, "especially considering that only includes the acres DU worked on. Millions of additional acres have been impacted through public policies that DU supports, many DU members have restored wetlands on their own property, thousands of farmers flood their fields annually for waterfowl, and I could go on."

To appreciate the significance of conserving 10 million acres, one must first appreciate the size of that much land. Ten million acres could accommodate Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, with 368,000 acres to spare. To conserve 10 million acres over 65 years requires conserving more than 421 acres per day. In the words of Jeff Churan, a longtime DU volunteer and board member, "We've come a tremendous distance by taking very logical, orderly, and secure baby steps."

THE EARLY YEARS (1930s and 40s)
During the dust bowl of the 1930s, drought wreaked havoc on North America's waterfowl populations, turning the birds' northern breeding grounds into dry basins. Waterfowl numbers dwindled, and a small group of sportsmen called the More Game Birds in America Foundation decided to take action.

In 1935, the group conducted the International Wild Duck Census, the first aerial survey of Canada's breeding grounds. Based on the results, the Foundation initiated a program in 1937 to restore and improve the drought-parched prairies of Canada. They dubbed the program Ducks Unlimited, incorporated it that same year, and aimed to complete DU's work in five years at a cost of $3 million.

"Coming out of the drought of the 1930s with record low waterfowl numbers, the duck decline was directly associated with the lack of water," explains Bill Leitch, DU's retired chief biologist, whose 38-year career with DU Canada started in 1939 as a field biologist. "The assumption was that more water would equal more ducks, so DU essentially became an engineering organization, building dikes and dams to store water. For many years we measured our success in acres of water and miles of shoreline."

DU conserved its first acre of water in 1938 on Big Grass Marsh in Manitoba. The marsh was originally a sprawling wetland complex spanning 100,000 acres, but between 1909 and 1916 it was drained for agriculture. Instead of yielding the fertile fields locals had envisioned, Big Grass soon became a desolate tract of dust and silt. When engineer Bill Campbell arrived to restore the marsh in 1938, a grateful community praised DU's restoration work, and the newspaper that celebrated draining Big Grass in 1913 spread the good news that a group of sportsmen was restoring their marsh. Meanwhile, T.C. Main, general manager of Ducks Unlimited Canada, assumed personal responsibility for restoring 100,000 wetland acres in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

As Canada, then the United States, entered World War II, DU's wetland construction slowed. Materials, manpower, and fuel were scarce, and we now know that T.C. Main personally borrowed $25,000 to help support Ducks Unlimited through the war.

Despite the slowdown, by 1943 Ducks Unlimited managed to complete 103 projects on more than 1 million acres, and word of this success quickly spread. When the troops came home in 1946, contributions surged to a record $428,675. Confident that Ducks Unlimited was stable, General Manager T.C. Main retired.

In 1948, the prairie potholes experienced the wettest spring in 50 years, ushering in a new decade later known as the Wet '50s, and the Golden Age of waterfowl.

EXPANDING HORIZONS (1950s, 1960s, and 1970s)
With water on the prairies, and projects in prime condition, Main's successor, George R. Fanset, introduced a new plan for the new decade, involving a more hands-on approach to conservation.

"We found that we were to a large extent an engineering organization," explained Fanset. "Our projects when completed were not getting sufficient management. During the war years we wanted to do something about it, but were unable to. As soon as gas and cars became available, we developed the idea of project managers to manage DU's projects."

With more intensive habitat management underway, and projects spreading beyond the prairies, an interest in research sparked the 1950s' more holistic approach to conservation.

1960s
As the 1950s drew to a close, so did the years of abundant water and record fall flights. Undaunted by the dry spell, DU initiated its most ambitious habitat plan yet-a goal of 50 projects in one year.

In 1965, Dale E. Whitesell was appointed executive vice president of DU in the United States. Within Whitesell's first year, DU's headquarters moved from New York to Long Grove, Illinois, and the organization celebrated its first $1 million fund-raising year.

"The people that got our fund-raising initiatives off the ground were DU's grassroots volunteers," explains Whitesell. "They organize the local DU banquets and regional and state committees that raise the money. They're the ones who deserve the credit." Today, this grassroots event system continues to be the backbone of DU's membership recruitment and fund-raising program.

In 1969, Stewart Morrison became executive vice president of DU Canada. Together, Morrison and Whitesell led DU into a decade of progress in both countries.

1970s
The 1970s was a time of expansion for Ducks Unlimited. Congress passed major legislation regulating clean air, clean water, wildlife areas, and toxic emissions, causing people to consider for the first time how their lifestyles impact the environment. In the United States, conservation soon became a household word.

In Mexico, however, "conservation" was a relatively unexplored concept, much to the dismay of the DU team. Many birds raised in Canada migrate south each year to winter in Mexico. With wintering grounds at stake and no formal organization to deliver DU's conservation message, DU formed Ducks Unlimited de Mexico (DUMAC) in 1974. To date, DUMAC has conserved more than 1.6 million acres of wintering habitat.

FORWARD MARSH (1980s: A Decade of Progress)
In the 1980s, drought gripped the prairies once again, and while many wetlands turned to dust, most of DU's projects retained water.

By March 1983, DU had raised its 200 millionth dollar, and could begin restoration projects in its founding country-the United States. In 1984, under the new U.S. Habitat program, DU tackled its first project in the states from its new regional headquarters in Bismarck, North Dakota. Located on Lake Arena, North Dakota, the first U.S. project was in the heart of the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region's breeding habitat.

But waterfowl migrate, so Ducks Unlimited did too. Recognizing that ducks and geese need resting areas along their migration routes, and suitable wintering grounds, DU established a program to conserve waterfowl habitat throughout the U.S. DU's MARSH (Matching Aid to Restore States Habitat) program, initiated in 1985, provides funds resulting from DU's fundraising to cooperating state conservation agencies for a variety of wetlands work.

In 1985, DU started using NASA's Landsat 5 satellite to inventory 60 million acres of wetlands in North America. This information helped DU select future projects, manage existing projects, monitor habitat changes and losses, and assist in estimating waterfowl production.

In light of the decade's depressed waterfowl populations, DU joined forces with other private organizations and government agencies to develop a recovery plan. In 1986, the partners drafted the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP), an agreement among the United States, Canada, and Mexico to restore waterfowl populations to levels of the 1970s. DU was a leader in implementing NAWMP, and remains the largest private supporter of the plan.

Stewart Morrison, executive vice president of DU Canada from 1969 to 1995, says the NAWMP "Put the information, programs, and research together that allowed DU to expand its horizons. Instead of focusing on one portion of the landscape, we started looking at all the interrelated habitats that serve the ducks' daily, weekly, and seasonal needs."

Perhaps the greatest milestone of the 1980s was the 1986 authorization of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which provides financial incentives for farmers to retire marginal croplands for 10 years or more. CRP simultaneously puts millions of acres of habitat back on the breeding grounds. Recent studies indicate that between 1992 and 1997, CRP fields in the Prairie Pothole Region added 10.5 million birds to the fall flight. Through its policy office in Washington, D.C., and with support from members and volunteers, DU continues to work for an expanded CRP program as well as other wildlife-friendly legislation in cooperation with private landowners.

In the late 1980s, research revealed a direct correlation between the quality of wintering habitat and waterfowl reproductive success. In response, Ducks Unlimited opened a western regional office in 1987 in Sacramento, California, to deliver conservation programs in 10 western states. The year 1987 also saw a changing of the guards for DU, Inc., when Dale Whitesell retired as executive vice president, and Matt Connolly took over the job.

In 1989, DU helped pass the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), a matching grants program that encourages non-federal sources to implement conservation projects. For every $1 the government invests in this program, an average of $3 is matched by nongovernmental entities for wetland conservation. President Bush recently requested a record $44.1 million be appropriated for NAWCA in the 2003 budget.

Meanwhile, a useful new tool, geographic information systems technology (GIS), was emerging. GIS combines layers of satellite images, aerial photos, maps, and other digital data, providing a comprehensive map of any location. GIS allows DU to view, manage, and analyze many layers of information simultaneously, covering vast landscapes.

COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION (1990s)
In the early 1990s, welcomed rains ended the drought of the previous decade. Waterfowl crowded the U.S. prairies, now packed with CRP grasslands. With upland cover and abundant wetlands, spring breeding bird numbers began to climb, reaching 36.9 million in 1995.

As duck numbers increased, DU prepared more wintering grounds for the fall flight's arrival. In 1990, DU opened its southern regional office in Jackson, Mississippi, to cover conservation efforts in the Mississippi and Central flyways, where two-thirds of North America's waterfowl spend the winter.

In 1991, DU established its conservation easement program, and finalized its first easement in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. A conservation easement is a legal agreement allowing landowners to permanently protect their property's natural resources while maintaining ownership of the land. To date, DU has 121 conservation easements across 16 states, totaling more than 161,000 acres.

In 1994, Ducks Unlimited's Board of Directors approved the first international conservation plan, which established guiding principles for DU's conservation work in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The plan is updated every five years to accommodate new goals and issues. The latest draft includes additional conservation goals for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Armed with an action plan, DU embarked on the greatest campaign ever for wetlands and waterfowl conservation-Habitat 2000: Campaign for a Continent. The goals of this campaign were comprehensive and intimidating: raise $600 million, recruit 750,000 members, and conserve 9 million acres by the year 2000.

With sights aimed high, Ducks Unlimited progressed quickly towards the new millennium. In 1996, DU helped assure that CRP was reauthorized under the new Farm Bill, with another seven years and $1 billion in funds. In 1998, the organization passed the 8-million-acre mark, and by 1999, an estimated 105 million ducks traveled south that year, making it the largest fall flight on record.

In 1999, Matt Connolly retired after 12 years as executive vice president for DU, Inc. His successor and current executive vice president, Don Young, had also succeeded Stewart Morrison as DU Canada's executive vice president in 1995. By the year 2000, it was clear that DU would surpass its Habitat 2000 goal with 757,000 members, more than $900 million raised, and more than 9.6 million acres conserved.

The Future
Like the timeless tenets of the U.S. Constitution, or the familiar words of Thomas Jefferson, some things will always bear truth. Among them is something DU's founding fathers knew 65 years ago: Habitat conservation is critical to healthy waterfowl populations. "Over the years, Ducks Unlimited has gained knowledge, support, and resources, but the mission has never changed," says Don Young. "With increasing threats to waterfowl habitats, a constantly growing human population, and more demands being placed on the land, DU's mission will only become more timely and urgent."

Perhaps the only thing as unchanging as the mission of Ducks Unlimited is the importance of those who support it-the members and volunteers who made those 10 million acres possible, and who will help conserve the next 10 million acres . . . and then some.