COLUMBUS, Ga., November 6, 2006 – Ducks Unlimited (DU) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recently restored 217 acres of wetlands on the Bradley Unit at Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge. Refuge managers can now manipulate water levels within each impoundment to produce abundant waterfowl foods and provide brood-rearing habitat for resident wood ducks.

“Waterfowl species including mallards, gadwall, American wigeon, green-winged teal and wood ducks use wetlands along Lake Eufaula,” said Craig LeSchack, director of conservation programs for Georgia. “This is a great public lands habitat project for waterfowl that also increases opportunities for public waterfowl hunting.”

DU worked with the USFWS to subdivide the existing north impoundment of the Bradley Unit by constructing a levee and installing one water control structure. In some years, agricultural crops will be grown during summer months to provide additional food for migrating waterfowl.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will manage the Bradley Unit to maintain high quality wetlands for wintering waterfowl,” said LeSchack.

With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization. The United States alone has lost more than half of its original wetlands ­- nature’s most productive ecosystem - and continues to lose more than 80,000 wetland acres each year.

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