Many waterfowl enthusiasts may never travel to Canada, but ducks do.

The breeding populations of waterfowl in Ontario and Quebec can translate into a fall flight of approximately 20 million ducks and geese. And 64 percent of the world's population of American black ducks breed in Quebec. More than 39 rare and endangered wetland-dependent wildlife species will benefit from long-term protection of Ontario's coastal wetland habitats.

Canada is a vital breeding landscape and part of DU's Completing the Cycle Initiative. Because of that, DU and Ducks Unlimited Canada partner on the State Grants Program, which provides state funding for critical habitat conservation north in Boreal Canada.

The state grant program has funded wetland conservation programs in high priority areas across Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador for more than 50 years. Funding from the states is matched by Ducks Unlimited, matched again by federal funding through the North American Wetland Conservation Act and then leveraged by Canadian funding partners.

Since 1965, the grants program in the United States' portion of the Atlantic Flyway has contributed nearly $10 million toward conservation efforts in Canada. These contributions have been leveraged at least four times totaling more than $40 million invested into our boreal waterfowl breeding grounds.

In Canada, DU has completed more than 9,560 habitat projects, securing 6.4 million acres and positively influencing 116 million acres of habitat. More than 900 species of wetland wildlife, including many threatened or endangered species, live and flourish on DU projects.

February 2016