On Dec. 31, 2014, Ducks Unlimited completed a four-year, $6.3-million agreement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to deliver Wetland Reserve Program habitat restorations in the north-central and western parts of the state. WRP is a voluntary program which restores privately owned, flood-prone farm ground to native habitat.

Through this agreement, DU helped restore or enhance 6,800 acres of wetlands and grasslands on 76 different easements. Most of these projects are within the Living Lakes Initiative area and will provide excellent waterfowl breeding and brood-rearing habitat. Additional projects in Monona and Woodbury Counties provide valuable foraging habitat for ducks as they migrate to the Prairie Pothole Region in the Dakotas and Canada.

The WRP program in Iowa remains popular with agricultural producersas a way to deal with frequently flooded and unproductive farmland and Ducks Unlimited looks forward to future partnerships with NRCS.