Collaboration plays a crucial role in the success of conservation efforts, as they bring together diverse expertise, resources, and perspectives to tackle complex environmental challenges. Materials science company Dow and Ducks Unlimited, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving wetlands and other waterfowl habitats, are undertaking a multi-year, multi-national partnership aimed at restoring and conserving natural habitats across North America. This collaboration builds upon more than 70 years of local efforts between the two organizations.
The partnership will focus on several key projects over the next three years:
- Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge Restoration: Located in Michigan, this project aims to increase biodiversity, improve water quality, and enhance flood storage capacity. The refuge is one of Michigan’s largest managed wetland complexes, situated at the confluence of the Tittabawassee, Shiawassee, Cass, and Flint Rivers. Shiawassee is an important habitat in the region, and its wetlands provide huge flood mitigation capacity.
- Bayshore Birds Project: This coastal marsh restoration effort on Saginaw Bay will help filter nutrients and sediment from the surrounding agricultural landscape, creating a larger wetland footprint and providing extensive habitat for waterfowl and wildlife.
- Prairie Pothole Region Conservation: In Alberta, Canada, this initiative will expand conservation efforts in the primary breeding area for North American waterfowl and other grassland-dependent birds, particularly around the Ellis Bird Farm. The project connects key breeding grounds for migratory birds.
Additionally, Dow and Ducks Unlimited plan to develop publicly available tools to help support long-term success in sustainable land use planning and management. These tools may include practices for corporate land management and conservation, and a database that can be used by organizations to help track conservation opportunities and to manage corporate conservation as a portfolio of land use decisions.
Over the past 70 years, Dow and Ducks Unlimited have collaborated on various local projects across the United States. Recently, the organizations focused on sustainability and conservation efforts in the Gulf Coast, benefitting wildlife and waterfowl habitat, water quality and outdoor recreation across approximately 2,030 acres of coastal freshwater wetlands between Cameron Prairie and Lacassine National Wildlife Refuges in Louisiana.
Both Dow and Ducks Unlimited are also continuing to engage in individual efforts that promote healthy ecosystems. Last year, Dow announced a new Water & Nature strategy and targets that include a robust sustainable land management approach and habitat conservation commitments, and Ducks Unlimited announced a milestone achievement of delivering one million acres of conservation in the U.S. in a single year thanks to its many supporters, donors and partners.
