Hundreds of hunters used the Green Way Conservation Club platform to make their voices heard, while the team behind the club worked with conservation organizations to raise the $80,000 needed to restore full draw schedules for the 2026 waterfowl season.
Four of Michigan’s premier managed waterfowl areas will return to two draws per day, seven days per week this fall after hunters and conservation organizations raised $80,000 to fund the additional staffing needed to keep them fully operational.
Fish Point, Nayanquing Point, Shiawassee River and the Harsens Island Unit at St. Clair Flats were facing significantly reduced operations after the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced on July 30 that budget and staffing constraints would result in fewer daily draw opportunities during the 2026 waterfowl season.
What happened next showed how quickly Michigan’s outdoor community can respond when hunters, conservation groups, elected officials and state agencies work toward the same goal.
A new platform gets its first major test
The Green Way Conservation Club officially opened to the public on July 30, the same day the DNR announced the planned reductions.
GWCC was created to help hunters, anglers and conservationists understand issues affecting Michigan’s natural resources and communicate directly with decision-makers. The platform provides the background, contact information and tools needed to participate without requiring people to interpret complicated policy language or figure out what to write on their own.
Over the following days, hundreds of people used the GWCC platform to send emails and make their concerns known.
Those emails did not solve the staffing shortage by themselves, but they made it clear the proposed cuts mattered to Michigan’s waterfowl community. The response brought greater attention to the issue and helped move the conversation toward a practical solution.
Kyle Green of The Green Way Outdoors organized the fundraising effort through the Green Way Conservation Club. State Representatives Ken Borton and David Martin helped bring GWCC, the DNR and conservation partners together to discuss what could be done before the fall season. The agreement that followed allowed the DNR to hire eight seasonal employees to support the four affected areas.
The waterfowl community fills the $80,000 gap
Once the immediate need was identified, conservation organizations stepped forward.
Contributions:
- Shiawassee Flats Citizens and Hunters Association contributed $20,000
- St. Clair Flats Waterfowlers and the Harsens Island Waterfowl Hunters Association together contributed $20,000
- Ducks Unlimited committed another $20,000
- Michigan Duck Hunters Association contributed $10,000
- Delta Waterfowl contributed $10,000
Together, those commitments reached the full $80,000 needed to restore operations in all four areas.
The funding will provide two part-time employees at each location from two weeks before the waterfowl opener through Thanksgiving weekend. That additional staffing will allow Fish Point, Nayanquing Point, Shiawassee River and Harsens Island to return to two daily drawings, seven days per week, throughout the 2026 fall waterfowl season.
For hunters, the impact is immediate. Families will have more opportunities to hunt together, young and new hunters will have more chances to experience Michigan’s managed waterfowl system, and the traditions surrounding these areas can continue without the dramatic reduction that had been announced.
This was not the work of one person or one organization. It took hundreds of individuals speaking up, local associations and national conservation organizations committing substantial resources, elected representatives helping facilitate the conversation and DNR officials working with the outdoor community to implement the solution.
A victory for 2026, not a permanent fix
The restored schedule is an important victory, but the $80,000 provides a temporary, one-year solution.
The DNR continues to face flat or declining revenue, rising costs caused by inflation, staffing shortages and years of deferred maintenance. According to the department, the Wildlife Division has lost $12.5 million in annual purchasing power over the past seven years, approximately 21% of its total budget. Rising costs for gravel, fuel, electricity, seed, fertilizer and other necessities have contributed to reductions in staffing, maintenance and infrastructure work.
Michigan’s managed waterfowl areas require much more than staffing at draw stations. Levees, pumps, culverts, bridges, boat launches, roads, cultivated fields and thousands of acres of wetland habitat all require ongoing work. Across Michigan’s state game and wildlife areas, the DNR has identified at least $75 million in deferred infrastructure maintenance needs.
The waterfowl community answered the immediate need, but private organizations should not have to organize an emergency fundraising campaign every year to maintain public hunting opportunities already supported by Michigan sportsmen and women through license purchases, duck stamps and federal excise taxes.
Green Way Conservation Club is now working with Representatives Ken Borton, David Martin and the DNR to identify a sustainable, long-term solution. The goal is not simply to protect the 2026 season, but to preserve staffing, habitat management, infrastructure and dependable public access for future generations.
A resource for hunters and waterfowl
One of the most encouraging parts of this effort was seeing different kinds of duck hunters come together around the same resource.
Young hunters and retirees, beginners and experienced waterfowlers all had something at stake. These areas provide accessible opportunities for families introducing children to duck hunting, first-time hunters who may not own a boat or have access to private property, and seasoned hunters who value the habitat, history and opportunity these managed areas provide.
The value of Michigan’s Wetland Wonders also extends far beyond the hunters waiting for a draw number.
The DNR manages these areas to provide nesting and migration habitat for waterfowl and other wetland wildlife, and thousands of migratory birds use them during the spring and fall migrations. Ducks traveling north toward breeding grounds and south toward wintering areas rely on networks of wetlands where they can rest, feed and regain energy.
Research has connected waterfowl nutrition and body condition during migration and winter with survival, nesting effort and reproductive success. These four Michigan areas alone do not determine continental duck populations, but productive wetlands throughout the flyway are part of a much larger system. When a managed wetland loses the staffing, water control, food production or infrastructure needed to maintain quality habitat, it can support fewer birds and becomes a weaker link in that network.
Properly maintained Wetland Wonders give migrating ducks another dependable place to stop, feed and rest as they travel north and south each year. They also give hunters, birdwatchers and families the opportunity to experience one of North America’s great natural migrations.
That is why this effort mattered to more than one kind of hunter or one hunting season. Michigan waterfowlers came together to preserve a valuable public resource for young and old hunters, beginners making their first trip into the marsh and experienced hunters who have returned for decades, while also protecting habitat that migrating waterfowl depend on.
Four Wetland Wonders will operate at full draw capacity this fall because the waterfowl community acted quickly and worked together. The next job is making sure these areas remain healthy, accessible and fully functioning long after the 2026 season ends.
