This is a short profile of the Ducks Unlimited and the ways in which the organization has been able, continues to be able continuing to influence the world in a positive way. In the most basic terms this is the tale of great, enthusiastic individuals who have forever changed the way we think about conservation of wetland habitats. If you’re an avid hunter or not, all of us can benefits from the efforts of the Ducks Unlimited.
DU ORIGINS: SCIENCE AND THE SPORTSMAN’S ETHIC
Since its beginning the distinct heritage of the Ducks Unlimited has been characterized by the use of the power of science to motivate actions (even before this kind of thing became widely used).
“In the history of conservation, no group has done more for habitat on the ground to restore, sustain and take care of a resource–the wetlands and the waterfowl–than DU,” said Nick Wiley, Ducks Unlimited’s Chief Operating Officer. “It’s the “True North” in the conservation arena.”xThe Ducks Unlimited’s founders, in partnership with state and provincial wildlife authorities, are Ducks Unlimited Wisconsin very first in time to perform surveys of habitat and waterfowl from the air. Although their method of conducting “the grandaddy of all Ducks Unlimited Wisconsin surveys” was ridiculed at the time but it’s now the norm.
The 1935 Wild Duck Census, tallied more than 14,000 air miles, and captured thousands of photographs using handheld cameras. The study concluded at while the duck population was 65 Ducks Unlimited Wisconsin in North America, only 2.2 million were in the United States.
If hunters were looking to secure the long-term future of the ducks they had to safeguard an area that was one of the most vital regions where they lived and bred: in the Prairie Pothole Region in Canada and the US.Around the same time, in 1934, concerned duck hunters in America advocated for the introduction of self-imposed taxes to raise funds for wetland protection. The Duck Stamp or the Duck Stamp as it came to be called as, was one of the Ducks Unlimited Wisconsin times in the history of a federal agency received with an annual budget that was used for wetland acquisition. The program has produced greater than $1.1 billion, acquiring greater than six million acres under the National Wildlife Refuge system, and assisted in the creation or Ducks Unlimited Wisconsin of more than 300 national wildlife refuges.