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Insights - Wetlands for Tomorrow
By Don Young, Executive Vice President
At the 69th annual Ducks Unlimited International Convention, held May 24-28 in Phoenix, DU launched an ambitious and vital new campaign called Wetlands for Tomorrow. The campaign’s $1.7 billion goal—that’s right, billion—is the most ambitious wetlands and waterfowl fund-raising effort in history (see page 37 for details). At the convention, DU’s leadership team, headed by Campaign Chair Jim Kennedy, briefed the delegates on urgent conservation
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| Don Young, DU Executive Vice President | priorities across North America and what will be needed to address these challenges facing waterfowl today and in the future.
Guided by the best waterfowl and wetlands scientists, DU has identified major habitat and other specific initiatives where the conservation needs are most urgent—North America’s grasslands (the most important breeding habitat), the western boreal forest (scaup and many other species), the Gulf Coast, threatened wetlands throughout the continent, pintails, mallards, and youth recruitment.
While we have been overwhelmed by the passion and generosity of many DU supporters during the early stages of the campaign, we will not reach our $1.7 billion objective through big individual gifts alone. Because of the comprehensive nature of the campaign and its continental reach, every supporter of wetlands and waterfowl conservation must play an active role.
Whether you attend a DU event, donate a conservation easement, become a public agency partner, use your DU credit card, or visit our website and donate online to your favorite initiative, every contribution is important, no matter how big or small. Your dollars will help secure the future for North America’s ducks and geese, and for the waterfowling traditions we cherish.
Nowhere is the urgency more evident than in the Prairie Pothole Region, where the majority of North America’s ducks are raised and where in the U.S. portion alone, more than 78 percent of the original grassland nesting cover has been lost. And remaining native grasslands throughout the duck factory face an uncertain future. As Scott Stephens explains in his thought-provoking story, “Plowing the Prairies,” on page 70 of this issue, technological changes have enabled landowners to convert native grass to crops in areas previously thought unsuitable for cropland, and in the United States, federal crop subsidies have inadvertently encouraged landowners to do so. Additionally, imminent expiration of Conservation Reserve Program contracts means that at least 1.6 million acres of restored grasslands in the Dakotas and Montana will likely revert to cropland over the next five years. And although grassland acres increased by more than 9 percent in Prairie Canada between 1984 and 1999, wetland losses there continue at a worrisome rate.
Right now, waterfowl are in the middle of their breeding efforts. Our field staff and meteorological data reveal that water conditions on the breeding grounds are generally positive (see the “Field Reports” map on page 46). However, these maps reflect only one of two vital components essential for duck production—water and nesting cover. Without adequate nesting cover, abundant wetlands won’t sustain duck populations.
That’s the ultimate goal of Wetlands for Tomorrow: conserve the broad landscapes that will be necessary to sustain waterfowl populations and that provide benefits for other wildlife as well as current and future generations of outdoor enthusiasts. We hope each of you will participate in this bold new campaign. The ducks deserve nothing less from us.
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November /
December 2009
Issue
Feature Stories
Duck Hunting
on a Budget
Waterfowler's Notebook:
When Silence is Golden
Understanding Waterfowl:
Ducks After Dark
Conservation
in Canada
The Big Splash
Cooking: Goose & White Bean Stew
Conservation: A Promising Way to Save the Duck Factory
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