Shiawassee Refuge project receives support from conservation partners
Ann Arbor, MI —July 20, 2009 — A project to restore critical wetland habitat on Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) took a big step forward recently when Ducks Unlimited, Inc. (DU) received $30,000 in funding from the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network (WIN). WIN joins a group of other funders including Shiawassee Flats Citizens and Hunters Association, Consumers Energy, DU, SNWR, and the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, all working together to make this wetland restoration idea a reality.
Wetland habitats in the Great Lakes are recognized as critically important ecosystem components that provide multiple social, economic, and environmental functions. Michigan has lost more than 50% of its original wetlands. Losses of emergent and lakeplain prairie wetlands in Saginaw County are more severe, where more than 95% of the historic wetlands are now gone. This project is designed to help repair some of that damage and restore critical wetland functions to an area of the refuge that is currently a mix of agriculture land and grassland.
“WIN is an organization that works hard to fund projects that provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to the Saginaw Bay area”, said Ducks Unlimited Regional Biologist Paul Hess. “The environmental benefits of restoring this wetland habitat were obvious, but when they heard about the auto tour route that the refuge is constructing, it became clear that this was their kind of project.”
The refuge is in the process of constructing a 7 ½-mile auto-tour route that will allow an estimated 30,000 annual visitors to drive through refuge areas currently inaccessible to automobile traffic. This influx of new visitors is sure to provide an economic boost to the local community. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that visitors to National Wildlife Refuges generated almost $1.7 billion in total economic activity during 2006. According to their study, nearly 35 million people visited national wildlife refuges that year, supporting almost 27,000 private sector jobs and producing about $543 million in employment income. In addition, recreational spending on refuges generated nearly $185.3 million in tax revenue at the local, county, state and federal level.
The wetland habitats that are restored through this project will be the first wetlands encountered as visitors travel the new auto-tour route. Not only will this wetland restoration and auto-tour route provide economic benefits and habitat for wildlife, but it will also provide a quiet place for visitors to learn about and reflect on the benefits of wetlands and other natural habitats.
WIN is a volunteer organization that includes more then 90 citizens and organizations and focuses on opportunities to better link the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of Saginaw Bay communities in order to sustain and improve the region’s quality of life.
Ten area foundations and corporations work together as a Network to support WIN projects. This Funders Network includes: Bay Area Community Foundation, Consumers Energy Foundation, Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation, Midland Area Community Foundation, Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation, Saginaw Community Foundation, The Dow Chemical Company Foundation, The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, The S.C. Johnson Fund, and the Cook Family Foundation. The Foundations contribute $300,000 per year to the Sustainable Communities Initiative Fund and the grant for this project was drawn from this fund.
More information about WIN is available on its website at www.saginawbaywin.org
With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world's largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization with 12.6 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.
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Kristin Schrader 734-623-2000 kschrader@ducks.org