Did You Know...

• The fertile wetlands and grasslands of North America’s Great Plains are some of the most productive waterfowl breeding habitat in the world. However, this habitat is under siege as never before. Large blocks of native grassland and essential nesting habitat are being plowed under at an alarming rate. More than 70 percent of the continent’s prairie wetlands have already been drained or severely degraded, and remaining wetlands are increasingly threatened.
  
  
• Some 14 million waterfowl and a multitude of other migratory birds breed in North America’s vast boreal forest. In fact, more than half of the continent’s waterfowl can be found in boreal forest habitat during late summer. This productive, wetland-rich forest faces increasing pressure as a result of natural resource extraction.
  
  
• Over the last 150 years, California’s Central Valley has suffered devastating wetland losses. More than 95 percent of the valley’s seasonal wetlands and 90 percent of its stream corridors have been destroyed or modified. In addition, urbanization threatens to destroy many of the remaining wetlands, which are crucial to pintails and many other migratory birds.
  
  
• The rich marshes of the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast provide wintering and migration habitat for as many as 14 million ducks, 1.5 million geese and many other migratory birds. These incredibly productive wetlands also support major sport and commercial fisheries. Each year, 25 to 35 square miles of wetlands are lost along the Louisiana Gulf Coast.
  
  
• The Great Lakes region supports nearly 1 million breeding mallards and a myriad of other wetland species. Great Lakes states have lost more than half of their original wetlands, and urban sprawl and industrialization in the region pose significant conservation challenges.
  
  
• In the West, water is a precious, increasingly scarce commodity. In both spring and fall, wetlands in the Intermountain West provide crucial migration habitat for some 18 million waterfowl and shorebirds.
  
  
• The Chesapeake Bay watershed encompasses some 64,000 square miles in one of the continent’s most densely populated regions. The bay provides key migration and wintering habitat for many waterfowl species and other birds, but extensive habitat loss, coupled with nutrient-laden runoff, has severely degraded its water quality.