Wanted: Private landowners…

Own a farm? Lease a hunting club? Put DU’s wetland restoration funding and expertise to work for you… AND the ducks!

Across the country, conservation-minded landowners are reaching out to DU for wetland and grassland restoration projects. Some are hunters, others are birdwatchers and others are just tired of plowing and seeding that same wet corner of the field every year, only to get minimal or no yields out of it. So how does someone go about getting their very own DU project? Let’s be frank—our mission simply cannot be achieved without working on private lands, as well as on public lands. We need you to help us succeed in truly conserving “Wetlands for Tomorrow.”

So how does it all work? First things first—call DU Regional Biologist Kirk Mantay (410.224.6620) if you have a farm with some wet fields, if you’re a hunting club member wondering why “that one pond” never has ducks in it, or if you own land that seems to be wet a lot of the time, but you faithfully mow it, year after year, even with all those funny-looking grasses coming up. All these little things can be indicators that your land WANTS to support a wetland. That’s great! Kirk will set up a convenient time and date to meet and talk with you about whether you have a good opportunity for wetland management, restoration and/or long-term protection. If a wetland restoration project seems possible based on the site conditions, soil mapping and other factors, DU will survey the area and come up with a wetland restoration design for you. Typical DU private land restoration projects can provide anywhere from 50 to 100 percent cost-share, depending on the type of project and its location.


Before you know it, we’ll be onsite restoring your wetland, and you’ll be producing high-quality native waterfowl foods to ensure the best habitat possible. Call DU today—you have nothing to lose, and the ducks have everything to gain!