Ducks Unlimited Thanks Senators DeWine and Levin for Leading Efforts in Passing the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act by the Senate

Ann Arbor, MI – July 19, 2006- Last week the full Senate passed the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act (GLFWRA), sponsored by Ohio Senator, Mike DeWine and Michigan Senator, Carl Levin. The bill is now before the House of Representatives awaiting action. The GLFWRA, authorized in the Senate bill at $20 million annually, provides essential resources to state and tribal management agencies to conserve, enhance, and restore Great Lakes fish and wildlife populations and their habitats. According to Ducks Unlimited (DU), the GLFWRA has great potential to meet the objectives of several fish and wildlife restoration plans, including the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, the Great Lakes Fishery Resources Restoration Study, and the new National Fish Habitat Initiative.

“Ducks Unlimited is grateful for the leadership provided by Senators DeWine and Levin in co-sponsoring the GLFWRA,” said Gildo Tori, director of public policy for DU’s Great Lakes/Atlantic Region. “These senators have played key roles in protecting and restoring the Great Lakes, and their leadership in the GLFWRA is another major advancement in bringing critical resources to restore the Great Lakes.”

A wide assembly of partners support passage of the GLFWRA, including DNR directors of all eight Great Lakes states, and a coalition of 11 conservation organizations, including American Fisheries Society, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, BASS/ESPN Outdoors, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Izaak Walton League, Pheasants Forever, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Wildlife Society, Trout Unlimited and the Wildlife Management Institute.

Funding under the GLFWRA can include projects which protect and restore wetlands and near shore areas, a high priority in the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Restoration Plan, as well as restoring critical habitat for a wide variety of fish and wildlife endemic to the Great Lakes.

Citizens of the Great Lakes should voice their support of the GLFWRA (HB 4953) to their member of Congress, as well as express their appreciation to Senators DeWine and Levin for initiating this important piece of legislation.

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.