Elko, Sparks habitats receive honors from Ducks Unlimited

If you were to read through a list of top duck hunting destinations in the Pacific Flyway, chances are you won’t find a Nevada location on the list.

Not because the Silver State fails to offer waterfowl enthusiasts with the opportunity for good hunting, but because Nevada shares the Flyway with multiple states that have significantly more waterfowl habitat and therefore more places and birds to hunt.

But Nevada doesn’t take a back seat to anywhere else when it comes to hunters who are dedicated to conserving waterfowl and its habitat.

That reality is reflected in the national honor recently bestowed by Ducks Unlimited on its Elko and Sparks chapters. Both were named to the DU President’s Roll of Honor. According to DU, this is one of the most highly coveted awards the conservation organization offers to its more than 2,600 local chapters.

“These fundraising events are the backbone of DU’s habitat conservation efforts, and the volunteers who make up these chapters are the force driving DU and helping make a difference for North American waterfowl populations,” DU president Paul Bonderson said.

DU works on a landscape scale with projects stretching across the continent. Using this large-scale approach, DU has conserved more than 13.6 million acres of habitat across the North American continent since it was founded in 1937. This is accomplished through a variety of means, including grasslands restoration, replanting forests, restoring watersheds and acquiring land. DU also negotiates conservation easements that protect habitat.

In Nevada, DU has conserved 66,136 acres of waterfowl habitat and provided technical assistance on another 27,813 acres. As of Jan. 1, the cost for these conservation efforts is $13,163,905. In the Pacific Flyway, the number of acres conserved is almost 1.1 million, and the cost of conservation projects is $466,424,186.

DU is working on several regional conservation initiatives. One of those is called the Ducks in the Desert Initiative, whose focus is waterfowl habitat in Nevada, Utah and Arizona.

“On the surface, the wetlands of Utah, Nevada and Arizona might not seem very important to ducks or duck enthusiasts,” notes a description of the initiative on the DU website. “However, the scarce and priceless wetland oases in this arid region actually serve a surprising number of waterfowl and hunters. Wetlands dot the landscape in seemingly random patterns, yet each fulfills a critical role in waterfowl migration, breeding and brood rearing.”

To move forward with the Ducks in the Desert Initiative, DU wants to raise at least $1.5 million to help cover the cost. This funding, according to the project description, will enable DU personnel to “conduct important science, public policy and outreach efforts, as well as conserving the breeding habitats important to waterfowl that utilize desert wetlands each year. DU’s research and evaluation efforts are the foundation upon which our direct conservation programs and our policy and outreach work are based.”

As with other conservation organizations, banquets sponsored by local DU chapters are the organization’s primary fundraising mechanism. Another tool is the annual Ducks Unlimited Continental Shoot in February at the Clark County Shooting complex. In February, the “Ducks in the Desert” shoot hosted 522 shooters from 37 states and four countries who competed for $75,000 in cash and prizes.

The next DU fundraising event in Southern Nevada will be hosted by the Henderson DU chapter June 4 at the Silverton. For more information about Ducks Unlimited in Nevada, see ducks.org/Nevada.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His “In the Outdoors” column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com