North American Wetlands Conservation Act

The North American Wetlands Conservation Act (P.L. 101-233) (December 13, 1989) authorizes a wetlands habitat program, administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which provides grants to protect and manage wetland habitats for migratory birds and other wetland wildlife in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. A nine-member council meets periodically to decide which projects to fund.

The program encourages private-public costsharing projects. It must allocate between 50% and 70% of all funds to projects in Mexico and Canada, and no more than 50% of the U.S. share for projects in these countries can come from federal sources. The Act was recently reauthorized through FY2007 in P.L. 107-308, which gradually increases the funding level to $75 million in the final year.

Wetlands Conservation Act has provided North America with different and effective ways to preserve wetlands to ensure that wildlife and migratory birds’ habitats are safe. More than 2,000 projects have been started, collaborating with 3,000 other organizations. These collaborations include private and public landowners and over 25 million acres in the United States. Over $411 million in federal appropriations have been leveraged into $3.5 billion which creates jobs through NAWCA, and these jobs have accumulated $200 million in worker's earnings annually.

Plants and soils in wetlands have a very active and significant role in the environment because they filter water by removing high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. They also remove toxic chemicals before they have the opportunity to enter the groundwater. When the wetlands' plants and soils are intact, many harmful toxins are shut out, and the entire habitat can be a safer place for migratory birds and other species to reside. NAWCA not only benefits wildlife and migratory birds, but also benefits other visitors. When wetlands have an abundance of wildlife, humans can enjoy fishing, hunting, and nature as well.

Louisiana currently has 47 NAWCA projects which has covered an amount of 519,038 acres of wildlife habitat and NAWCA has 19 multi-state projects completed in Louisiana which has conserved 314,887 acres of wildlife habitat. It is said that Louisiana has the highest rate of coastal wetlands in North America; Louisiana also has the most moss loss. Louisiana loses 16,000-22,000 acres a year and nearly 1,500 square miles of marsh has been lost over a total of seven years.

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