Ducks Unlimited’s mission is to conserve, restore, and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America’s waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people. Ducks Unlimited (DU) is a private non-profit (501c3) organization that was incorporated in 1937. Since that time, DU has conserved more than 14 million acres in North America. DU’s first project in Oregon was completed at Summer Lake Wildlife Area in 1989. Since then, we have conserved more than 126,500 acres in Oregon.
Ducks Unlimited protects land through its land-holding subsidiary Wetlands America Trust and with willing landowners through several means including acquisitions, conservation easements and planned gifts. DU/WAT has LTA accreditation, and is the 3rd largest land trust in North America with a portfolio of 550 individual easements of more than 443,000 acres. DU/WAT does not permanently hold fee simple land long term, with a few exceptions. With fee land acquisition, our goal is to provide a pathway to acquire priority habitat at risk and pass along to a conservation partner as the long-term holder.
In Oregon, DU/WAT holds 6 conservation easements located in Willamette Valley and Klamath Basin. However, we find our biggest impact is to partner with other land trusts to secure funding, support due diligence, and build landowner/community trust. Frequent land trust partners include Greenbelt Land Trust, McKenzie River Trust and Northwest Rangeland Trust.
