NAWCA was enacted in 1989 and provides Federal cost-share funding to support the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. NAWCA is a non-regulatory, incentive-based, voluntary wildlife conservation program.
The North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) will be allocated a record funding level from Congress, as the President signed the Interior Appropriations bill for the 2010 fiscal year on Saturday. NAWCA is being appropriated $45.6 million, a $2.5 million increase over the 2009 funding level. The funding match requirement for NAWCA means the program will put at least $5 million of habitat on the ground over 2009 levels.
Other waterfowl programs that benefited from the new budget are the Neotropical Migratory Bird Act and the National Wildlife Refuge System, which saw an increase of more than $40 to the operations and maintenance budget. Maintaining National Wildlife Refuges is critical to waterfowl, as many use the areas to breed and winter across the country. The funding increase will help U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service staff continue to eliminate invasive species and improving habitat.
The NAWCA program and wetlands conservation recently reached a major milestone. On September 9, 2009 the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) program has allocated more than $1 billion in federal grants. A slate of projects approved by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission today pushed the program over the cusp.
In Washington, D.C., the Ducks Unlimited Governmental Affairs staff works with Congress in support of annual funding for NAWCA so we can keep building on the Act's waterfowl conservation success.
NAWCA provides challenge grants for wetlands conservation projects in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Every $1 of federal money allotted to NAWCA must be matched by $1 or more from non-federal sources like Ducks Unlimited, or state fish and wildlife agencies. Because this program is so effective, funds are often tripled or quadrupled at the local level.
To date, NAWCA has helped fund over 1,800 projects on over 24 million acres in all 50 states, areas of Canada and areas of Mexico. More than 3,000 partners, including private landowners, industry and state governments have worked together to conserve wildlife habitat through NAWCA grants.