Delta Waterfowl Receives Grant from Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund

Funding helps Delta conserve small, shallow wetlands and advocate for public lands

BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA — A $150,000 grant from the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund is supporting Delta Waterfowl’s habitat conservation policy work and backing efforts to revitalize our public lands. The grant represents a $50,000 increase over last year’s funding, reflecting the growing impact of the Outdoor Fund on Delta’s conservation work.

For the third year in a row, the Outdoor Fund will help Delta to conserve critical breeding habitat in the prairie pothole region, where up to 70% of the continent’s ducks are hatched. Small, shallow wetlands vital to duck production are most at risk of drainage in the PPR.

“We certainly appreciate the ongoing and very generous support of the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund to help Delta to find new tools to address one of the most important issues facing ducks and duck hunters: the loss of small wetlands across the prairies,” said John Devney, Delta’s chief policy officer. “This support from the Outdoor Fund is critical in providing the resources for our team to fully realize the potential of the Shallow Wetlands Incentive Program in Manitoba, expand it to Alberta, and continue to work with USDA/NRCS to deliver on the promise of the small wetland language in the U.S. Farm Bill.”

SWIP offers famers in Manitoba annual incentive payments to conserve small wetlands. The program builds on Delta’s successful model of wetland conservation adopted by Manitoba in 2018. About 4,000 additional acres of critical breeding duck habitat are being enrolled each year.

Support from the Outdoor Fund also will help power Delta’s Restoring Our Refuges Initiative. After decades of budget cuts and staff shortages impacting refuges and state wildlife management areas, Delta is committed to strengthening public lands in the United States. 

According to the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's website, the Outdoor Fund is focused on “bringing together customers alongside dedicated team members, industry partners and leading conservation organizations” to create "North America’s largest conservation movement to collectively shape the future of the outdoors and all who love it for generations to come.”

Scott Vance, development director at Delta, calls the Bass Pro and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund grant a huge win for ducks and duck hunters. 

“Their support for several of Delta’s initiatives represents a commitment not only to hunting heritage, but also duck habitat and sustainability,” he said. 

Delta Waterfowl is The Duck Hunters Organization, a leading conservation group founded in 1911 that uses science-based solutions to produce ducks, conserve prairie wetlands, and ensure the future of waterfowl hunting in North America. Visit our website. 

For more information, contact John Devney.