Washington – April 22, 2009 - Ducks Unlimited Executive Vice-President Don Young and senior Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander met on Earth Day to discuss conservation issues facing wetlands, waterfowl, and people in the Volunteer State.
“I was very pleased to talk with Sen. Alexander about the need to promote clean water and protect and restore wetlands that produce the ducks and geese that Tennessee hunters love,” said Young. “Sen. Alexander has been a leader in promoting conservation, and as a Tennessee headquartered organization we look forward to working with him to solve these challenges.”
Young visited the nation’s capital to meet with a large group of the Senate leadership on the importance of waterfowl and wildlife habitat to combating climate change, and the importance of protecting isolated wetlands to ensure clean water.
Sen. Alexander’s position on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is an important one for conservation, as the panel will soon consider the Clean Water Restoration Act, a bill that would restore Clean Water Act protections to geographically isolated wetlands. More than 20 million acres of wetlands lost their CWA protections in the wake of guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“Restoring protection to these wetlands is critical to long-term waterfowl populations,” said Young.
Young and Sen. Alexander also discussed appropriations for successful programs like the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), which has conserved more than 24 million acres in its 20 year history. Young presented Alexander with a letter signed by 52 senators supporting funding NAWCA for the next fiscal year. As the senior ranking Republican on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Alexander is instrumental in funding conservation initiatives.
With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization with more than 12 million acres conserved. 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 important to waterfowl each year.
Neil Shader
nshader@ducks.org
202.347.1530