Fighting for conservation in the modern era
Sometimes having conservation regulations and funding still isn’t enough to protect waterfowl and their habitats. Sometimes it requires a determination to fight on behalf of the resource. And Dr. Rex Hancock is proof that you don’t have to be president or the head of a federal agency to change history for the ducks.
Rex Hancock, a dentist from Missouri, moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas, to follow his passion for duck hunting. His intensity, earthiness, and perseverance drew comparisons with a pit bull, and that attitude was important as he battled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when it started to channelize more than 230 miles of Arkansas’s Cache River basin during the 1970s. This region of Arkansas is part of North America’s most important mallard wintering habitat and has been formally designated as a Wetland of International Importance.
To give you a sense of the man, Hancock called the project “an insult to God’s planning of the earth!” After a 1972 lawsuit challenging the adequacy of the 12-page Environmental Impact Statement failed, he took up the charge and founded the Citizens Committee to Save the Cache. Hancock eventually drew to the cause a diverse coalition of 35 national conservation organizations and state agencies in the Mississippi Flyway. He was known to leave patients sitting in his dentist chair as he took phone calls from his army of supporters.
After years of legal and political hand-to-hand combat and the channelization of seven miles of the Cache, the project was finally halted. Conservation agency partners, inspired by Hancock, acted to ensure the project was never revived and to honor his personal commitment. In a fitting tribute to a duck hunter who changed history, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service committed $3.1 million of duck stamp funds—contributed largely by fellow duck hunters—for the first land acquisition for the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is now more than 67,000 acres in size, with more than 72 percent of the land having been purchased with duck stamp dollars. Much of the refuge is also open to duck hunting.
How can today’s duck hunters change history?
These are just a few stories that illustrate how duck hunters can, and must, change history. Today’s duck hunters must be grateful to these visionaries and all the other duck hunters who preceded us. If not for the duck hunters of previous generations, our sport would likely be very different than it is today—if it still existed at all. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude, but they would not want homage. Instead, they would ask us to pay our debt forward, to make a brighter future for waterfowl and our sport just as they did.
There are countless ways that today’s duck hunters can change history (see sidebar). In fact, we do so just by buying duck stamps and joining Ducks Unlimited every year. To preserve the future of duck hunting for our children and grandchildren, we must all commit to making a difference now. We have a debt to pay, and an obligation to the future to fulfill.
Presidents Who Changed Waterfowl Conservation History
- Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09): The “conservation president” established 50 national wildlife refuges, initiating the national system now containing 550 refuges and 150 million acres of habitat.
- Woodrow Wilson (1913-21): Wilson signed the Migratory Bird Treaty and implemented legislation that ended market hunting and raised waterfowl conservation to the international level.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45): Calling it a “New Deal for Waterfowl,” Roosevelt signed the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act, which created the “duck stamp” to generate revenue for waterfowl habitat.
- George H. W. Bush (1989-93): The senior Bush made “no net loss of wetlands” the national goal and signed the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, which in 20 years has benefited 25 million acres.
Nine Ways Today’s Waterfowlers Can Change History
- Take a youngster hunting. There will be no one to care about waterfowling’s history if we don’t take personal responsibility for recruiting future generations.
- Think big and take action. Every individual can play an important role in big conservation achievements.
- Be passionate and committed. Perseverance is a hallmark of those who have helped change waterfowl history, and passion drove them all.
- Go to DU events and get your passion recharged! DU is its members, and all DU members are helping to shape a better future for waterfowl.
- Be active in policies important to waterfowl. As history-changing issues like the Clean Water Act come before Congress, we all shape the future, either with our strong voices or our silence.
- Make an estate gift to Ducks Unlimited. By including DU in a will or trust, you can leave a lasting legacy for wetlands and waterfowl.
- Stay informed. Always be open-minded and seek accurate, complete information about issues relevant to wetlands and waterfowl.
- Be a leader and open to diverse partnerships. History-changing accomplishments are almost always the result of diverse coalitions rallying around shared objectives while setting aside differences.
- Buy hunting licenses and duck stamps every year and stay engaged in conservation. Even if you don’t hunt every year, your purchase of hunting licenses and duck stamps will help conservation agencies fulfill responsibilities critical to the future of waterfowl.