"The cuts being proposed could imperil waterfowl populations and the future of the waterfowl hunting tradition in America," said DU CEO Dale Hall. "What's being proposed by the House Appropriations Committee will cripple conservation efforts as we know them," Hall said. "Elimination of NAWCA, an 81% reduction of acquisition for refuges and seriously reducing many other programs so vital to our mission are things DU strongly opposes."
Hall said DU is especially concerned about specific areas of the cuts, all of which will adversely affect waterfowl hunters and other conservationists:
- NAWCA grants—NAWCA is the primary source of funding for the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and has generated more than $3 billion in habitat across North America during the past 20 years. NAWCA grants, along with significant matching funds from the private sector, have helped conserve more than 20 million acres of habitat in North America. These are acres critical to waterfowl, water, conservation and people.
- The budget actions would also prohibit much needed efforts to restore Clean Water Act protections to important shallow wetlands, including those in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota and South Dakota, also known as America's "Duck Factory" because of its importance to breeding waterfowl.
- Funds for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service land acquisitions in the Prairie Pothole Region for waterfowl conservation.
- State Wildlife Grants that provide more than $90 million to conserve wildlife habitat.
The NAWCA grants are especially valuable, Hall said, as evidenced by the president's budget recommendations that were released today in which the administration has requested increasing NAWCA funds.
"If these cuts and actions take place," Hall said, "waterfowl, waterfowl huntersand wetlands conservation would lose in a big way. In short, these actions would adversely affect all of us who care about, and have funded, wetlands and waterfowl conservation. We should remember, conservation in America pays for itself through the economic return from hunters, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts."
Ducks Unlimited is the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 12 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow, and forever.
You ever catch yourself sniffing empty shotgun shells? In the heat of battle most of my spent twelve gauges hit the bottom of the duck boat. Exceptions to the rule occur, and those are the three inch mags that I tuck in my pocket after poking at Canadian honkers. My hands shake so bad after honkers I always slowly unload the tubes and vibrate the empties into my bulging shell pockets.
It's the slow burn in a shot of whiskey that sets my mind to rewind. I raise the glass to the mutt. Then I play the same old, in my head movie, over and over. I smell the day. I feel the wind. I see the clouds. I think of the sound of roaring wings.