Ducks Unlimited Inc.

Ducks Unlimited Inc., doing business as Ducks Unlimited, is a non-profit conservation organization based in Rancho Cordova, California (with national headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee) that provides federal grant recipients with wetland mapping, habitat restoration design and engineering, environmental compliance services, and water management infrastructure planning and construction across the western United States and Alaska. The organization acts primarily as a prime grantee (97% of awards) under cooperative agreements and project grants, with a small subgrant footprint; it does not hold federal contracts as a prime contractor, though it received a single $119,554.60 purchase order from the Department of Defense in April 2026 for environmental mitigation credits under Clean Water Act compliance.

Ducks Unlimited's federal work centers on habitat conservation and wetland restoration. Representative recent awards include a $3.5 million Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8 to assist with the Upper Williamson River Restoration project on the Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, including Phase 1 construction and engineering design and environmental compliance services for Phase 2; a $2 million Project Grant from the Fish and Wildlife Service under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination and Assistance Program (CFDA 15.664) for the Mountain View Restoration Project at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, including construction of climate-resilient bridges, public access trails, and habitat transition slopes across former salt ponds; and a $255,802 Cooperative Agreement under the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (CFDA 15.631) for a first-phase Klamath River wetland restoration project designed to redirect return flows through the Tule-Smoke Marsh, reducing nitrogen inputs by 31 percent and supporting critically endangered Lost River and Shortnose sucker habitat. Ducks Unlimited also serves as fiscal agent and coordinator for multi-agency habitat joint ventures, including the Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture (which coordinates landscape-level bird habitat conservation across the Pacific Flyway) and the Intermountain West Joint Venture (which addresses sagebrush ecosystem threats across the intermountain West), with associated cooperative agreements from the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Customer concentration is dominated by the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service across multiple regions, accounting for the plurality of awards. The top five customers by award count—Fish and Wildlife Service national office, Fish and Wildlife Service Region 9 Headquarters, Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1, Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service—represent 56 percent of awards. By dollar potential value, the Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management National Office anchors the top position with 10 awards valued at $12 million combined, driven by a cluster of wetland mapping delivery orders issued in 2021 for Oregon and Utah locations (including the Oregon Cascade, Oregon East, and Utah Northwest wetland mapping projects totaling approximately $1.07 million). Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 (Pacific Flyway) places thirty-one awards, followed by Region 7 (Alaska), the national Fish and Wildlife Service office, and the Bureau of Land Management California Region.

Ducks Unlimited places work under four primary indefinite delivery contracts: Indefinite Delivery Contract 101812D009 (62 task orders, $7.2 million combined potential value), Indefinite Delivery Contract INF08PC60062 (13 task orders, $1.5 million combined potential value), Indefinite Delivery Contract 140L0618D0063 (9 task orders, $2 million combined potential value), and Indefinite Delivery Contract INF701815D034 (5 task orders, $866 thousand combined potential value). The organization holds a small subgrant footprint, primarily working as a sub-recipient under state and non-profit prime recipients, including the Recreation and Conservation Office on the North Willapa Bay floodplain restoration project and the State Coastal Conservancy on the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project phases.

Activity has averaged 9 awards per year over the past five years, with variation reflecting grant program cycles; the portfolio contains 322 total prime and sub awards across federal sources, with $22.2 million in combined potential value and $290.5 million in combined dollars obligated (reflecting the multi-year nature of cooperative agreements and the distinction between potential value and invoiced spend). Thirteen awards (combined potential value $835 thousand) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. The NAICS footprint centers on Environmental Consulting Services (53 awards) and Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction (16 awards), reflecting Ducks Unlimited's role as both a technical advisor and implementation partner on engineering and restoration projects. The organization competes full-and-open; no set-aside designations appear across the award portfolio.