Action Alert!
Contact your members of Congress to voice your support for reauthorization of the NAWCA program.
Without Congressional action, the NAWCA program will expire in September 2012, jeopardizing 22 years of progress restoring waterfowl and wetland habitat.
NAWCA Overview
The North American Wetlands Conservation Act conserves North America's waterfowl, fish and wildlife resources while producing a variety of environmental and economic benefits. Its success is driven by partnerships involving federal, state and local governments; nonprofit organizations like DU and community groups. Every federal dollar provided by NAWCA must be matched by at least one dollar from non-federal sources. Because the program is so effective, NAWCA funds are usually tripled or quadrupled on the local level. More than $1 billion in federal grants has been allocated for NAWCA projects – a figure that has leveraged an additional $3 billion from matching and non-matching funds. Since its inception, more than 1,600 NAWCA projects have contributed to the conservation of more than 25 million acres of habitat across North America.
News
With NAWCA funding approved at $35.5M, DU turns focus to reauthorization
Ducks and other wetland-dependent wildlife will benefit from last week's congressional approval of a $35.5 million budget for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) program for FY 2012. While significantly less than what the administration recommended months ago, this number is much improved from an initial $20 million figure proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives in the spring, largely through the work of Ducks Unlimited, its supporters and other conservation organizations.
NAWCA's FY12 funding is part of H.R. 2112, a package of bills keeping the government funded through Sept. 30, 2012, NAWCA's current expiration date. With the future of this program and the nation's wetlands hanging in the balance, DU is urging its supporters and all Americans to seek their representatives' support of H.R. 1960, a bill that would reauthorize NAWCA through 2017. Read more »
Omnibus Spending Bill
The North America Wetlands Conservation Act will be funded at $35.5 million in fiscal year 2012 after passage in December of H.R. 2112, a package of bills that will keep the federal government running. A $1 trillion spending bill to keep the government funded for the rest of the fiscal year won approval in both chambers. Lawmakers from both parties signed off on the omnibus spending deal that would fund the Interior Department and other federal agencies for the rest of fiscal year 2012. The spending package appropriates money through September 30, 2012 at levels agreed to in the debt ceiling agreement this past August. These funding levels for NAWCA were a slight cut from fiscal year 2011 levels of $37.5 million, while other Interior programs valuable to waterfowl received level funding or slight cuts as well.
NAWCA partners urge Congress to support program in FY 2012 budget
Several Idaho partner of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act sent a letter to Chairman of the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations subcommittee Rep. Mike Simpson (ID) urging him and the committee to include funding for this successful conservation program. Read more »
NAWCA's History
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. Both Houses unanimously reauthorized NAWCA in September 2006. The appropriation authorization for NAWCA was increased to $75 million for FY 2007 through FY 2012.
NAWCA stimulates public-private partnerships to protect, restore, and manage wetland habitats for a diversity of migratory birds and other wildlife. NAWCA partnership grants play an important role in meeting the DU mission, from restoring wetlands that have been altered, and enhancing water availability, to reducing soil erosion and the likelihood of floods. In addition, many projects provide outstanding recreational opportunities, from bird watching to hunting.
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.
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.
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. Learn about NAWCA in your state.
Other resources:
NAWCA fact sheet (PDF)
NAWCA application materials
NAWCA State Fact Sheets