The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) often partners with Ducks Unlimited to make improvements to national wildlife refuges through a program called Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ).
Recently, the USFWS awarded DU a $1 million IDIQ contract to complete habitat improvement projects on Pea Island and Lake Mattamuskett national wildlife refuges in
North Carolina.
In 2011, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) sustained significant damage from Hurricane Irene. DU will repair a 150-foot breach in a dike, replace water-control structures, and make other infrastructure improvements to enhance nearly 500 acres of
wetland habitat on this barrier island, which hosts concentrations of ducks, geese, swans, and other migratory birds seasonally on more than 1,000 acres of managed impoundments. Construction on this project will be completed later this year.
Southwest of Pea Island, Lake Mattamuskeet NWR encompasses North Carolina's largest natural lake and hosts significant wintering populations of
ducks, geese, and tundra swans. Renovation of two existing water-control structures on the 40,000-acre lake will improve wetland management, providing better habitat for waterfowl. Construction should begin on this project in July.