WASHINGTON, D.C., June 18, 2007 – In an effort to have wetland conservation keep pace with soaring land prices, Congressman Mike Thompson (CA) introduced legislation to reauthorize the Wetlands Loan Act Friday.
Congressman Don Young (AK) joined Thompson as a co-sponsor of the bill that aims to reinvigorate long-term protection of wetlands and associated habitats in the United States. The Wetlands Loan Act would authorize an advance of $400 million of federal duck stamp revenue over the next 10 years for wetlands protection in key areas for waterfowl and other wildlife.
“We commend Congressmen Thompson and Young for recognizing the urgent need to conserve breeding habitat for the future of waterfowl and waterfowling,” said Scott Sutherland, director of Ducks Unlimited Governmental Affairs Office in Washington, D.C. “The protection of valuable waterfowl habitat in areas like California’s Central valley has become very expensive, and additional duck stamp revenue will allow landowners to protect land now before it is too late.”
The United States continues to lose more than 80,000 acres each year. Passage of the Wetlands Loan Act will ensure that landowners have the option to work in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to voluntarily conserve their land through conservation easements.
"We have lost more than half of our natural wetlands," said Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA). "When we lose our wetlands, we lose natural flood protection and critical habitat for fish and wildlife. Conservation and sportsmen and women's organizations came to me with this legislative proposal to raise more money for our wetlands. I am pleased to join with them to help conserve our wetlands for future generations."
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.
In some areas the cost of protecting the habitat that remains has increased more than 300 percent over the last several years. Currently, more than 800 private landowners in North and South Dakota await the opportunity to conserve nearly 400,000 acres for waterfowl and other wildlife.
The Wetlands Loan Act is modeled after similar legislation originally authorized in 1961. It would allow borrowing against future federal duck stamp revenues from sales to hunters and other conservationists. Sportsmen and women have a 70-year history of willingly supporting our nation’s waterfowl heritage through the purchase of duck stamps.
Since 1934, more than 119 million stamps have been sold, primarily to waterfowl hunters, for an investment of more than $700 million to protect more than 5 million acres of habitat in the U.S. Federal duck stamp revenues are the primary funding source for the purchase of small wetlands and associated uplands in the Prairie Pothole Region. These areas are also known as Waterfowl Production Areas and are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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 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.