For the first time since its inception more than 20 years ago, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) can now allow Canadian funding sources to count toward the dollar-for-dollar match required by the U.S. government, according to a release by Ducks Unlimited.
A bill allowing the addition of Canadian funding was recently signed into law by President Obama after being passed unanimously by Congress last year.
Congressman Rob Wittman (Va.), one of the members of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, introduced the bill into Congress in 2009. Scott Sutherland, Ducks Unlimited’s director of governmental affairs, testified in favor of the bill before the House Natural Resources Committee.
“NAWCA continues to be one of the great success stories for conservation, and by enhancing the program to allow investment from Canadian sources, that success can continue,” Sutherland said before the hearing. “Allowing Canadian funds to match the federal grants will help continue NAWCA projects to be matched by an average of $2 for every dollar from the U.S. government.”
Since the program’s inception more than 20 years ago, more than 1,600 NAWCA projects have contributed to the conservation of more than 25 million acres of habitat across North America. Each project requires at least a $1 to $1 match for each dollar contributed by the federal government. However, the projects often attract two to three times that from conservationists, local governments and others. More than $1 billion in federal grants has been allocated for NAWCA projects †a figure that has leveraged an additional $3 billion from matching and non-matching funds.
“This bill will enable DU and our many partners to strengthen and expand our collective efforts to conserve waterfowl habitats across North America, especially in the critical breeding area of Canada’s Prairie Pothole Region,” said Scott Yaich, DU’s director of conservation operations
