Throughout the national wildlife refuge system and particularly within the mississippi river basin there is increasing need to build and maintain resilient habitats and infrastructure that improve…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) awarded a $3,599,500 Cooperative Agreement under the National Wildlife Refuge System Enhancements program (CFDA 15.654) to Ducks Unlimited, Inc. The award supports habitat restoration, invasive species removal, climate-resilient infrastructure, and access improvements on 8,124 acres of National Wildlife Refuge lands and state lands important to the refuge system across several Midwestern states. Ducks Unlimited will leverage its engineering and project management expertise to deliver these conservation outcomes and enhance climate resiliency within the Mississippi River Basin. The 4-year project period runs from January 1, 2025 through September 30, 2028, continuing a longstanding partnership between USFWS, Ducks Unlimited, and other stakeholders to address environmental changes and management challenges in the region.

Throughout the national wildlife refuge system and particularly within the mississippi river basin there is increasing need to build and maintain resilient habitats and infrastructure that improve outcomes for wildlife and people as weather and climate variability increases. Federal and state lands along the upper mississippi and illinois rivers are experiencing a variety of challenges due to changing climactic trends and changes in surrounding land use. Though the proximate causes are similar the solutions necessarily vary due to location geography site history and public use.proposed projects include habitat restoration invasive species removal climate resilient infrastructure access improvements and projects that reduce sediment loading. The proposed projects take place on national wildlife refuge lands or on state lands that are otherwise important to the refuge system in morgan and cass counties IL louisa county IA houston county MN LA crosse county WI stoddard and wayne counties MO pike county IL scott county IA and jersey county IL. In order to support the delivery of these projects and improve outcomes at these sites ducks unlimited will deploy our engineering and project management services to improve climate resiliency on 8124 acres. Through collaborative work and planning ducks unlimited will work with the NWR to identify and prioritize projects that are most important and urgent and that provide the greatest benefit as IT relates to the NWR system. Ducks unlimited is uniquely positioned through its existing engineering and biological work force to deliver these outcomes. The work proposed herein is a continuation of a decades long partnership between the USFWS DU and others to help address environmental changes and meet management challenges at within the mississippi basin.