Partnership for habitat restoration crosses borders
Minnedosa, Manitoba., June 27, 2007 - After sowing productive nesting cover on a longtime project in the Manitoba parkland, Ducks Unlimited Canada staff invited local residents and volunteers to join them in celebrating a harvest of a different kind. On June 14th they welcomed guests from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin State Ducks Unlimited, Inc. volunteers to the dedication of the Wisconsin Project, located north east of Brandon.
“We’ve talked about sowing the fields with nesting cover, but today we’re really sowing these wonderful relationships,” Ian Barnett, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) Western Region Manager said as songbirds serenaded the dedication ceremony. “The hard-earned grassroots contribution by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has been leveraged through a real mosaic of great partnerships to make a big difference on the ground in wetland conservation. This is the fruits of our labor.”
The WDNR donates one third of their annual sales of Waterfowl Stamps to Ducks Unlimited , (DU) which matches Wisconsin’s contribution before sending the money to DUC, which further leverages the money through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. It’s a great partnership starting with WDNR, who have historically supported DUC projects in the area, in partnership with the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. “This is a prime example of a State conservation agency working with a private conservation agency. It is far greater that what we can do independently,” said Scott Hassett, Director of the WDNR, who said that DUC’s “creative and innovative ways of working with communities” have inspired him to consider similar projects at home.
The prairie parklands of Manitoba provide an array of wetland and upland habitat, making bountiful breeding grounds for waterfowl and other migratory birds that winter in and migrate through Wisconsin and the Mississippi Flyway. Hassett, along with two other WDNR employees and three DUI volunteers, recently toured tour the parklands, where waterfowl reap the rewards of their support for DUC. The dedication ceremony capped off their visit.
Seeing the wetlands, along with more than 14 types of ducks “dressed in their Sunday best” was a memorable part of the visit for Lon Knoedler, Wisconsin State Senior Vice President of DU. But Knoedler also said that the true value was in seeing DUC at work. “The breadth and scope of habitat and DUC’s management was the number one highlight of the trip,” he said. “But you can’t separate that from the DU staff with their professionalism, passion, knowledge and scientific approach. They’re doing it right!”
The Wisconsin Project site was owned by DUC supporter Pat Woodcock. Woodcock, her late husband George and their children have had a long relationship with DUC, beginning as volunteers and then committing their land to a conservation lease, before eventually selling the productive waterfowl habitat to DUC in 2001 for protection in perpetuity. “This was my husband’s land and he enjoyed what he’d done to conserve it. He’d be glad to see the land keep being preserved and used,” said Woodcock, who explained that George cultivated a conservationist spirit in his children and grandchildren by taking them for nature walks on the property. Woodcock said that they worked with DUC because they “wanted to see things that are in a natural state stay that way…if we don’t hand it down, they [our children] won’t see anything.”
Contact: Kristin Schrader
Public Affairs Coordinator
734.623.2000
kschrader@ducks.org
With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization, with almost 12 million acres conserved. The United States has lost more than half of its original wetlands—nature’s most productive ecosystem—and continues to lose more than 80,000 acres each year.