ANN ARBOR, Mich. – April 7, 2009 - Ducks Unlimited was recently awarded a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant to conserve wetland habitat in Suffolk Virginia. DU and project partners will restore and enhance 50 acres of emergent wetlands and 32 acres of forested wetlands in the project boundaries.
“NAWCA grants are a crucial funding source for conservation partnerships such as this one,” said Kirk Mantay, Ducks Unlimited regional biologist. “As a result of this funding opportunity, we will be able to cooperatively restore critical wetland habitat for the benefit of waterfowl and other migratory birds.”
Ducks Unlimited partnered with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, and the private landowner to receive matching NAWCA funds.
Approximately $40,000 in matching funds from project partners and $67,500 in NAWCA grant funds will restore, protect and enhance forested and emergent wetland habitat critical to waterfowl in Suffolk. Many of the functions and values of these former wetlands have the potential to be restored by plugging drainage ditches and creating low head embankments.
Work is expected to take place over the next year with survey, design and permit acquisition to be completed this summer. The construction should be completed during the summer of 2010.
The partners’ efforts in the project area will restore wetland habitat in a region where thousands of acres of forested wetlands existed historically. Many of the historical wetlands were drained through drainage ditches, field tile, or modifications to surface drainage for agricultural purposes. The objective is to restore 32 acres of forested wetlands and 50 acres of emergent wetlands.
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.
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Kristin Schrader 734-623-2000 kschrader@ducks.org