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The Ducks Unlimited Story
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Thank you for visiting The Ducks Unlimited Story is a non profit, public service organization.
We have dedicated this page to the story of Ducks Unlimited, the premier waterfowl and conservation Society in America.. We do this because what they have done is an inspiration to us all in our efforts to protect hunting and the environment. Please take the time to read it. It is a noble story.

The Inspirational Story of Ducks Unlimited

The founders of Ducks Unlimited intended nothing less than to save North America's waterfowl. They began their efforts more than sixty years ago on the threshold of the devastating Dust Bowl of the 1930s. It was a decade marked by intense agricultural development and plagued by drought, soil erosion ... and plummeting waterfowl populations. A group of sportsmen, determined not to let North America's ducks and geese dwindle beyond recovery, pledged to do something about it.
On January 29, 1937, Ducks Unlimited was incorporated as a tax-deductible, non-profit organization with the objective of replenishing waterfowl populations by restoring their vital wetland habitat. By the end of 1938, the fledgling conservation group had rounded up 6,720 supporters and raised a total of $90,000.
Today, DU's membership stands at over 515,000 and more than 6,000 of its wetland projects provide vital breeding, nesting, wintering and resting habitat throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.
From the very start DU has focused on projects in Canada, where some 70 percent of North America's waterfowl breed and nest. To date, over four million acres have been protected, including vital upland cover, as well as vital wetlands, ranging from shall ow brood-rearing potholes to larger staging marshes. In 1974, we turned our attention to Mexico. Here DU projects spanning 914,000 acres offer wintering habitat where waterfowl can rest and feed.
And in 1984, DU began building projects in the United States to provide waterfowl with wintering and resting grounds along their migration corridors. DU currently has Projects in all fifty states, totaling nearly a half million acres of wetlands and surrounding uplands. With regional offices in three key areas of the U.S., Ducks Unlimited is well-positioned to address the waterfowl and wetland conservation issues now facing our nation - quickly and effectively.
The Great Plains Regional Office, established in 1984 in Bismarck, North Dakota, specializes in the construction of wetland enhancement projects in Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Dakotas - the major waterfowl breeding grounds in the U.S.
The Western Regional Office, based in Sacramento, California, opened in 1987 to restore critically needed wintering habitat throughout the Pacific Flyway. Twenty percent of the continent's waterfowl winter in California's Central Valley.
The Southern Regional Office, opened in 1990 in Jackson, Mississippi, has already made great strides in initiating wetlands restoration projects on privately-owned lands in this key agricultural area.
Since 74 percent of our nation's remaining wetlands are located on privately held properties, in 1991 DU initiated a Private Lands program. By working with ranchers, farmers, real estate developers, and policy makers, DU seeks to find effective and mutua lly beneficial ways to manage privately-held wetlands.
Ducks Unlimited also is dedicated to advancing the science of wetlands conservation. In 1987, DU kicked off a unique time and cost-saving program termed, Habitat Inventory and Evaluation, for identifying endangered waterfowl habitat using computer images obtained from NASA's Landsat 5 satellite. Currently, an analysis of Canada's prairie pothole region and an inventory of California's Central Valley are near completion.
Last year, DU brought together some of the best minds in wetland biology from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. to form the Institute for Wetlands and Waterfowl Research. The Institute, launched in early 1991, is conducting research that promises to provide DU with new tools to enhance waterfowl production and survival.
In keeping with our mission to conserve entire wetiand ecosystems, the Ducks Unlimited Foundation, established in the 1950s, coordinates the acquisition and restoration of vast areas of wildlife and waterfowl habitat. Among the crown jewels of DUF's projects is the 300,000-acre ACE Basin in South Carolina, the largest remaining Atlantic coastal estuary in the U.S. In addition, DUF has acquired the 9,078acre Mary's Island Plantation, also in the ACE, and the 2,176-acre Delhomme Reserve, located north of Texas' Trinity Bay, to be developed for research centers under the guidance of the Institute for Wet lands and Waterfowl Research.
As the acknowledged leader in wetlands conservation, Ducks Unlimited has been instrumental in developing the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, an unprecedented commitment by Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to protect over 5.5 million acres of prime wa terfowl habitat. DU has pledged to invest over $800 million in project areas designated by NAWMP.
To date, contributions to DU total over $650 million, and of that total nearly 80 percent has been invested back into DU's habitat work. DU owes its distinguished reputation and fund-raising success to the dedicated sportsmen-conservationists who form the backbone of the organization.
Ducks Unlimited, Inc. is governed by a Board of Directors numbering approximately 60. Each year, the DU Council of State Trustees and National Delegates convene at a national convention to elect a president and other officers. Reporting to the president is the executive vice president, who directs a salaried staff including regional directors from designated geographical regions of the country.
Ducks Unlimited Canada and Ducks Unlimited de Mexico are also governed by their Boards of Directors, comprised of businessmen from the U.S. and their respective countries. Ducks Unlimited Canada is headquartered in Winnipeg and Ducks Unlimited de Mexico, in Monterey. DU's credibility is affirmed throughout North America by the cooperation and support DU Canada and DUMAC enjoy from ranchers, farmers, conservationists, government officials and from the people as a whole.
While Ducks Unlimited has made great strides since the first wetland project back in 1938, our work is far from complete. According to biologists, millions of habitat acres are still needed to stabilize this continent's waterfowl population. If this wet land acreage is not secure soon, it may be lost forever. By setting a corporate fund-raising goal that increases significantly each year, DU makes a bold effort to win this race against the calendar. However, to reach these annual goals the funds we raise in each country must be commensurate with the benefits received. Here in the United States, sportsmen realize 76 percent of the annual continental waterfowl harvest; in Canada, 22 percent; and in Mexico, 1 percent.
Currently, nearly half of the states provide financial support for our conservation efforts by dedicating a portion of hunting license fees and/or state duck stamp funds to Ducks Unlimited. These states include Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 5.5 million acres of waterfowl habitat in North America. This achievement would not have been possible without the generous contributions of waterfowlers who back their enthusiasm for the sport with the dollars needed to ensure its perpetuation.
The future of North American waterfowl will be secure as long as people are willing to accept the responsibility of wetiand habitat conservation. DU accepted that responsibility some 54 years ago and continues to campaign for new members and dollars to protect and restore this valuable natural resource.