Delta's Policy Work Boosts Quality Hunting Opportunities

Delta Waterfowl works diligently to address threats to duck hunting and to create new opportunities throughout North America. Delta’s voice and scientific perspective is amplified by the organization’s members and volunteers who serve as authentic spokespeople for duck hunters in their communities.

Delta plays a critical role in policy wins for public land duck hunters, including the following examples.

Delta helped lead an effort on legislation in Maryland to increase funding for waterfowl conservation. The added revenue provided historic funding levels for vast conservation enhancements—including to habitats that attract and support migrating waterfowl—and improvements to infrastructures on public lands that provide access to quality waterfowl hunting.

A project to repair levees on the White Lake Wetland Conservation Area in Louisiana will help restore important wintering habitat for waterfowl along the Gulf Coast. Delta staff and volunteers worked with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and Gov. Jeff Landry to secure $29 million to begin the work in 2026.

Delta members in Oklahoma alerted staff to a potential closure of a blind draw on Lake Stanley Draper and Stinchcomb National Wildlife Refuge just outside Oklahoma City. After several conversations with local officials, the city’s game and fish commission voted unanimously to keep the draw and allow waterfowl hunting.

Sunday hunting on public lands in Virginia became legal in large part because Delta worked directly with lawmakers to remove antiquated prohibitions. Delta submitted written testimony, testified in person in both the House and Senate committees in the General Assembly, and placed a well-timed op-ed in the Virginia Pilot urging lawmakers to pass this legislation.

Delta worked with volunteers, members, and duck hunters in Alabama to help oppose portions of the Decatur Tennessee River Bridge Feasibility Study, including proposed bridge construction sites that would go directly through the Swan Creek Wildlife Management Area in northeast Alabama and impact public hunting access. Swan Creek is the most widely used Wildlife Management Area in Alabama and is home to the state’s largest and most popular public shooting range. 

In 2023, several Delta members alerted policy staff to an announcement made by the Swan Lake NWR in Missouri about plans to suspend waterfowl hunting at Swan Lake because of “staffing shortages and workload demands.” Delta immediately reached out and submitted letters to refuge staff and leadership within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Missouri Department of Conservation, talking through potential solutions that would keep intact hunting opportunities on this important public access for waterfowl hunters. The USFWS reversed its decision, with hunters retaining access to the 10,795-acre refuge near Sumner, Missouri.

During the past several years, Delta has led the effort to increase waterfowl hunting access on national wildlife refuges through the USFWS Hunt Fish Rule, resulting in additional migratory bird hunting opportunities on thousands of acres throughout the refuge system.

—Paul Wait