Sempra Energy Foundation Joins the Fight for America’s Wetland

LAFAYETTE, La. July 28, 2008 – Ducks Unlimited received $25,000 from Sempra Energy Foundation to help restore over 900 acres of eroded marsh in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The California-based company joined forces with DU to protect the rapidly disappearing coastal marsh. The Sempra Energy Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization that supports sustainable, measurable community-based change in places where Sempra Energy does business.

“DU will leverage this gift with funding from other partners to secure a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant,” DU Manager of Conservation Programs Bob Dew said. NAWCA grants require matched funding of at least 1:1 nonfederal to federal. “The gift from Sempra Energy Foundation will allow DU to proceed with this important work,” Dew said.

The project includes construction of approximately 70,000 linear feet of earthen terraces and associated vegetative plantings at two project locations. The Black Lake Tract is located five miles west of Hackberry, Louisiana, and the East Cove Unit is located within and adjacent to the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge.

Terraces reduce wave energy and improve water clarity, promoting the growth of submerged aquatic vegetation like widgeon grass, pondweeds and other beneficial waterfowl foods. Reduced wave energy also diminishes erosion of marshy land containing shallow ponds that provide habitat for a variety of waterfowl and other wildlife, as well as commercially or recreationally important fisheries for white and brown shrimp, red drum and blue crabs.

Sempra Energy Foundation joins an impressive list of partners on this project including the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, BP America, Miami Corporation and private landowners. Because almost 80 percent of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands are under private ownership, corporate and private landowner participation is essential.

“This is a valuable project Ducks Unlimited is undertaking and we are very excited to help them secure funding for this much-needed grant,” said Frank Urtasun, executive director of the Sempra Foundation.

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 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.

Andi Cooper                601-206-5463               acooper@ducks.org