WASHINGTON, January 17, 2007 – Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman reintroduced the Wetlands Loan Act last week to strengthen long-term protection of wetlands in the United States that are vital to waterfowl, other wildlife and people. The Wetlands Loan Act would provide a $400 million advance of federal duck stamp money during the next 10 years for wetlands conservation. 

“Senator Coleman recognizes the need to protect critical waterfowl habitat now by introducing the Wetlands Loan Act,” said Scott Sutherland, director of Ducks Unlimited Governmental Affairs Office in Washington, D.C. “The U.S. has lost more than half of its wetlands and continues to lose more than 80,000 acres annually.”

The Wetlands Loan Act is modeled after similar legislation first authorized in 1961. It would allow borrowing against future federal duck stamp revenues from sales to hunters and other conservationists. All waterfowl hunters are required to buy a federal duck stamp each year to hunt.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would use money generated by the Act to purchase lands for national wildlife refuges and to assist landowners in protecting existing wetlands and surrounding duck breeding habitat in key breeding grounds and other areas across the United States.

Ducks Unlimited believes passing this legislation is a critical step in reversing wetlands losses and has supported similar proposals in the past.

“We look forward to working with Congress and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to advance this important legislation,” Sutherland said. “America can’t continue to lose wetlands. Wetlands help clean our water, provide flood and storm protection, give us a place to enjoy the outdoors, and are homes to nearly a thousand different species of wildlife. An advance in federal duck stamp revenue would help conserve wetlands for future generations.”

Contact: 
Neil Shader
Conservation Policy Specialist
202-347-1530
nshader@ducks.org

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.