Bill will improve wetlands restoration projects across North America

WASHINGTON – March 10, 2010 – The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a bill to enhance the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) and improve continental conservation efforts. Ducks Unlimited supports the measure, which would allow more Canadian investment in the NAWCA program. NAWCA conserves habitat in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"The North American Wetlands Conservation Act continues to be one of the great success stories of conservation," said Dr. Alan Wentz, Ducks Unlimited senior group manager for conservation and marketing. "In the 20 years of the program, more than 25 million acres of habitat have been conserved. Enacting this bill will help foster future success."

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill in October. The measure will now go to the president to be signed into law.

"This is the most important piece of legislation for the perpetuation of wetlands in decades," said Randy Graves, DU's CEO.

A unique aspect of the NAWCA program is that it requires a matching dollar from state and local governments, nonprofit groups like Ducks Unlimited or community groups for each dollar awarded in federal grants. Because projects are so popular, the federal dollars often leverage two to three times the grant in matching funds. Over $1 billion in grants has leveraged over $3 billion in matching and non-matching funds.

The bill will allow for funds raised in Canada to be used to fulfill the matching requirement for projects that take place in Canada. Previously, Canadian contributions did not count toward the required match for projects. The change also is supported by the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, the panel that administers the NAWCA program. Dr. Wentz also serves on the council.

For more information on NAWCA, please visit www.ducks.org/nawca. You can also download the NAWCA Fact Sheet (PDF).

Ducks Unlimited is the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 12 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever.

Neil Shader
nshader@ducks.org
202.347.1530