Ducks Unlimited surpasses conservation targets in Manitoba

Jul 04, 2022

Manitoba’s conservation leader helped fight climate change in the past year by working with landowners to protect 49 square kilometres (19 square miles) of wetlands and natural habitat, an area larger than the city of Steinbach.

“Every acre, every pond, every bit of grassland is critical in addressing climate change,” says Mark Francis, Ducks Unlimited Canada’s (DUC) manager of provincial operations in Manitoba. “I want to thank staff and landowners in addition to our industry and funding partners for helping to achieve some remarkable conservation numbers.”

DUC protected over 12,000 acres in 2021-2022 from future loss through long-term partnerships with Manitoba landowners. In addition, DUC collaborated with farmers to restore more than 5,600 acres of wetland and grassland habitat and provided the leadership and resources to convert over 185,000 acres of privately held lands into more diverse and sustainable ecosystems, exceeding its own targets.

Contributions from Manitoba’s Conservation Trust (CT) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), combined with private sector partnerships including the Weston Foundation, allowed DUC to expand both its conservation goals and the resources offered to landowners.

Last year, DUC provided $8.3 million in conservation programming to farmers and ranchers in Manitoba, an increase of $1 million from the previous year.

“Beyond helping the environment, DUC is contributing to the economy of rural Manitoba by providing financial incentives to landowners who support businesses in dozens of local communities,” says Francis.

In 2022-2023, DUC is increasing funding for forage and marginal areas programs in Manitoba and adding a new rangeland program to help ranchers improve the health and biodiversity of pasturelands.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.