2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

AUTHORS: Mark Flaspohler, Ducks Unlimited, Inc.

ABSTRACT: Ducks Unlimited’s Agriculture Strategic Plan Vision is focused to help take action in partnership with farmers, ranchers, landowners, cooperatives and commodity groups, financial institutions, corporations, municipalities, and policy makers to achieve sustainable agricultural landscapes. The goal is to provide economic prosperity and healthy communities for people while growing our conservation impact in the highest priority landscapes for North America’s waterfowl. Depending upon the region, watershed, and landscape position, wetlands contribute in a variety of ways. Wetlands are an essential part of these sustainable landscapes because they serve as natural infrastructure and contribute to a range of ecological services including water quality and quantity, carbon sequestration, soil health, flood control, mitigation, and coastal resiliency. Having a diverse set of programs ensures that there are suitable options for producers to value and incorporate these vital habitats and their interaction with the surrounding land and water.

Ducks Unlimited’s Sustainable Agriculture and Working Lands Focus is aimed at key landscapes, their primary resource concerns, conservation practices, and program implementation strategies. This means developing and scaling on-the-ground conservation programs that are beneficial for agricultural producers and waterfowl, while simultaneously providing ecosystem services is also key. Both in-field and edge-of-field practices help working ag lands target soil health, water quality and flood mitigation improvement. Maintaining existing and building new partnerships to target a voluntary and incentive-based approach to agriculture and conservation is also key. Continuing to work closely with producers, NRCS, USFWS, NFWF, MRCTI, State Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Departments of Agriculture, and commodity partners will also be critical in many ways, e.g., driving new public and private revenue towards important program needs while growing wetland and associated habit acres on both private and public lands. Finally, communication of these opportunities, partnerships, and successes by generating and amplifying media narrative around DU’s positive impact on working lands is important to develop DU’s brand that resonates with the agricultural sector and its supporters.