Take Action for Ducklings’ Wetland Habitats

Wetlands and the wildlife that depend on them need your help. A proposal to weaken an important wetland provision could result in the destruction, draining, and filling of vital wetland habitats.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to weaken safeguards for wetlands, ignoring common sense and the best available science and risking the destruction of important habitats. Take action today for wetlands, water, and wildlife.

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Our wetlands provide vital habitat for migrating ducks, geese, and cranes. They provide homes for frogs, turtles, butterflies, fish, and a host of other critters. In dry times wetlands are wildlife magnets, helping deer, fox, turkey, and more survive.

The USDA’s own analysis showed that many of the wetland maps drawn before 1996 to help farmers identify wetlands they have promised to protect were not accurate, sometimes not even based on good science, so for many years the USDA visited farms to double-check the accuracy of old Swampbuster maps using scientifically valid methods. The result: corrected, accurate maps that farmers could rely on.

Should the USDA weaken Swampbuster, the resulting damage to the small, shallow wetlands that farmers promise to protect could be substantial. Farmers count on wetland maps to be accurate, so they can avoid harming wetlands when they install drainage ditches or drain tile on nearby cropland. Downstream neighbors count on Swampbuster to protect wetlands that slow floodwaters and recharge groundwater. Hunters and bird watchers count on Swampbuster to protect the wetlands that ducks, geese, cranes, and a host of other wildlife depend on.

Instead, please strengthen the Farm Bill’s wetland provisions by using the best available science and on-farm assessments to check the accuracy of old wetland maps to ensure valuable wetlands are not needlessly drained, filled or destroyed. And before the agency considers weakening Swampbuster, it must perform the environmental assessment, Endangered Species Act consultation, and Tribal consultations required by law.

Ensure that pre-1996 Swampbuster maps are verified using site visits and good science before they are approved. Help us protect America’s wetlands!

Sincerely,
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