Winter/Spring 2000

President's Message

May 14, 2000, will mark the 14th anniversary of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. I find this the perfect opportunity to be proud of the contributions we have made toward enhancing and restoring waterfowl habitat in Mississippi. I also hope you will join me and others across the continent in celebrating the successes of this habitat development effort that is resulting in bringing back our waterfowl populations.

Thanks to our landowners, over 150,000 acres of prime waterfowl habitat have been added to existing habitat, making the Magnolia State one of the largest contributors to the goals and objectives of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. The Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation's efforts were directed toward the Plan's vision of restoring waterfowl populations to levels seen in the 1970s through habitat enhancement and restoration.

In the 1970s, an average of 36.1 million breeding waterfowl were found in the areas surveyed in Canada and the United States. In 1985, the year that the United States and Canada committed to the development of a strategic waterfowl restoration plan, the breeding population was estimated to be 25.1 million in the survey area. In 1999, breeding waterfowl numbers had almost doubled from 1985. Populations for seven of the ten principal species surveyed are now above the Plan's goals.

While there are many factors that go toward the tremendous waterfowl population increase, we are confident that the habitat conservation work done by the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Delta Wildlife, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, Ducks Unlimited, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Wildlife Services and our state's landowners was critical in helping to achieve that end.

The Foundation's trustees, members, staff, and participating landowners have earned the right to celebrate the anniversary of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.

Peyton Self
President