American Black Duck. Hal Trachtenberg
Ducks Unlimited Secures Funds for Farm Bill Engineering Technician
Ducks Unlimited (DU) was awarded an America the Beautiful Challenge Grant for $348,315 through NFWF to hire a Farm Bill engineering technician. This person will work with DU’s existing Farm Bill Biologist to implement NRCS wetland projects through the “Working Lands for Wildlife” American Black Duck Initiative (NJ, DE, MD, and VA). The success of outreach efforts to enroll new landowners has resulted in a backlog of projects in need of survey and design. The new DU technician, who will be housed in an NRCS field office, will work with producers and private landowners to advance projects ready for delivery and help with new project designs as outreach efforts continue to engage new landowners. The new position will focus on survey, design, and implementation of NRCS’s Farm Bill conservation programs, including both protection and wetland restoration projects which benefit Black Ducks on private land. The America the Beautiful Challenge Grant was matched by $349,362 from DU. Expected outcomes include expanding the network of high-quality wetland habitat for Black Ducks while concurrently building relationships with local landowners to foster further community/peer investment in conservation. Depending on workload, the new position will be assisting on projects in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey.