Waterfowl habitats like wetlands and grasslands are among north americas most important ecosystems

Federal Grant Award Summary

The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service awarded $144,000 on April 30, 2025, to the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies under the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures program (CFDA 15.637) to implement key components of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) marketing and communications strategy. The project, which concludes December 31, 2026, will deliver a new outward-facing NAWMP website, organize and improve accessibility to historical NAWMP documents, develop marketing products and tools for conservation partners, and establish a communication network to expand the reach and impact of NAWMP messaging. These products and services will be made available to the 24 Joint Ventures and numerous other conservation organizations working on wetland and waterfowl habitat conservation.

The initiative supports the NAWMP Communications Committee's 2023 strategy designed to accompany the 2024 NAWMP Update and advance three primary objectives: increasing public and policy support for wetland and waterfowl conservation, promoting policy that supports wetland and waterfowl management, and increasing conservation efforts and projects aligned with NAWMP goals. By centralizing access to marketing tools and communication resources, the grant enhances the capacity of state, provincial, territorial, tribal, and federal agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations, to coordinate messaging and expand the impact of North America's premier wetlands and grasslands conservation initiative.

They are key to clean water, clean air, and abundant, healthy wildlife. The north american waterfowl management plan (NAWMP) is one of the worlds most successful conservation initiatives focused on wetlands and grasslands. The NAWMP is also an enterprise comprised of a diverse network of state, provincial, territorial, tribal, and federal agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations working together to manage habitats, populations, and the human dimensions of waterfowl and associated species. Over the past decade, the NAWMP community, migratory bird joint ventures (joint ventures), and other partner organizations have committed scarce resources to communications efforts and achieved a moderate level of success. IT is time to take a more concerted and targeted approach to marketing NAWMP and the importance of conserving wetlands and the associated upland habitat required for waterfowl and other wetland-dependent species. The NAWMP communications committee developed a marketing and communication strategy in 2023 to be used in conjunction with the rollout of the 2024 NAWMP update (released january 2025). The goals of this plan are to increase support for wetland and waterfowl conservation, increase policy that supports wetland and waterfowl management, and increase efforts and projects that advance NAWMP. This grant proposal aims to implement a significant portion of the NAWMP marketing and communication strategy by creating a new outward-facing NAWMP website, improving the organization and access to historical NAWMP documents, creating marketing products and tools for conservation partners involved in NAWMP, and building a communication network to expand the reach and impact of these communication products. The project will improve access to marketing tools for the 24 joint ventures and numerous other conservation organizations. The marketing activities will engage approximately 500 individuals by the end of 2026 and establish the mechanisms to reach at least 1,500 individuals by the end of 2027.