Delta Waterfowl’s University Hunting Program Receives Major Grant from Richard King Mellon Foundation
The $250,000 donation will help ensure future wildlife management leaders understand waterfowl hunting’s critical role in conservation
BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA — The Richard King Mellon Foundation has furthered its support of Delta Waterfowl’s mission by awarding a $250,000 grant toward the University Hunting Program. The generous gift will help The Duck Hunters Organization continue to introduce wildlife management students to the joys of waterfowling, including its critical role in conservation.
Delta’s UHP was formed to address a growing concern: In contrast to prior generations when most college students studying wildlife management were raised in families that hunted and fished, today up to 70 percent of wildlife management students do not come from hunting families and have had little or no exposure to hunting. These future wildlife managers, who as professionals will use hunting license and permit revenues to manage waterfowl, need to understand the critical role that hunting plays in conserving ducks and geese. An equal goal of Delta’s UHP is to recruit participants to become lifelong waterfowl hunters.
Through Delta’s UHP, these students are immersed in curriculum that includes firearms safety, wild game preparation, hunting’s role in conservation and, most popular with the students, an actual waterfowl hunt.
“Hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts are the backbone of the conservation movement,” said Sam Reiman, director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation. “These learning opportunities will help to create the conservationists of the future.”
In 2019, with the help of a previous Richard King Mellon Foundation grant, Delta added the organization’s first R3 coordinator (R3 is hunter recruitment, retention and reactivation) to grow Delta’s University Hunting Program.
Conducted at 39 universities in 2021, Delta’s ultimate goal is to conduct UHP at all 494 schools of higher education in North America that offer conservation management curriculums. The new Richard King Mellon Foundation grant will expand Delta’s delivery of UHP beginning this fall. As a result, many more universities and students majoring in wildlife biology and agricultural sciences will participate in UHP in 2022-2023.
“We are so pleased that the Richard King Mellon Foundation has opted to help a large number of these students experience waterfowl hunting for the first time,” said Joel Brice, chief conservation officer of Delta Waterfowl. “We hope all participants decide to continue as hunters, but even if they don’t, they’ll gain an appreciation for the strong desire of duck hunters to conserve waterfowl and ensure the future of hunting.”
For more information, contact Joel Brice at (701) 226-7269 or jbrice@deltawaterfowl.org.
Delta Waterfowl Foundation is The Duck Hunters Organization, a leading conservation group working to produce ducks and ensure the tradition of duck hunting in North America. Visit deltawaterfowl.org.
