Ducks Unlimited (DU) has been supporting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (PFW) in Michigan for more than a decade.  Through the PFW, the USFWS restores and enhances wetlands and establishes native prairie on private land, e?ectively providing quality production and spring migration habitat for waterfowl.  In 2008, the USFWS used 125 gallons of Roundup Pro herbicide donated by DU to establish 233 acres of native warm season grass on private lands in DU’s Southeast Lake Michigan Watershed priority area.  DU has committed an additional $93,750 to the USFWS over the next 5 years for habitat conservation on private lands in all three Michigan priority areas.  The USFWS will pool these funds with a variety of other sources to conserve more than 1,100 acres of wetlands and grasslands.

Wetlands like this one restored on private lands provide important brood-rearing habitat for mallards, blue-winged teal and wood ducks.