Partners for Fish and Wildlife evolved from early-1970's
concerns about low waterfowl breeding populations and annual production in the
north-central United States and southern prairie Canada. A formal attempt to define the
waterfowl recruitment problem and consider solutions occurred at a meeting called by the
Province of Manitoba in January 1974. Following that meeting, a committee led by the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources developed a course of action.
A pilot program, the
Mid-continent Waterfowl Management Unit, was established in western Minnesota. A steering
committee of the Wildlife Management Institute, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources,
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guided the effort.
Photo by Kurt Forman, USFWS
The "Mid-Continent Project" had Four Goals:
- Protect existing wetland habitat in
private ownership
- Create and/or restore wetland habitat on
private land
- Establish upland nesting cover on
private land
- Improve wetland and upland habitat on
public land
USFWS Photo
Management activities were
designed and field tested from 1978 through 1987 in a three county pilot area. In 1987,
the "mid-continent project" was expanded by the Fish and Wildlife Service into
an operational private lands habitat program (Partners for Wildlife) for application in
every state.
The Region 6 Partners for
Fish and Wildlife Program started in North Dakota in 1987 and has been expanded to all
other Region 6 states since then. Partners for Fish and Wildlife's focus goes
beyond waterfowl habitat.
Habitat restoration goals include:
Restoring habitat
through voluntary partnerships with private landowners.
Implementing habitat
restoration projects in partnership with State Fish and Wildlife agencies.
Restoring biological
diversity on private lands and (FmHA) easement and fee title transfers with an emphasis on
wetlands.
Assisting in the
conservation and restoration of biological diversity on National Wildlife Refuges by
conserving and restoring the ecosystems in which they are located.
|
