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Dr. McDavid (left) with DUC’s Bob Thomson (right) at the McDavid Project
Dr. McDavid’s Vision“Land connects us with the past and with the future. It puts us in perspective. We are not apart from nature, but instead are given the opportunity to contribute to the natural succession of life.”
Blue-Winged Teal
Blue-winged teal are quick and evasive flyers that can be identified in the air by their blue forewing patch and their precision-like twists and turns. Blue-winged teal prefer nesting on prairie potholes, in grass along shorelines and in wet meadows.
McDavid Project 
In 2006, Dr. Jim McDavid, a Professor at the University of Victoria, signed a conservation easement with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) to protect a quarter section of land in central Alberta that he inherited from his father in 1989.
The land had been used for crop production and animal grazing since the early 1900s. McDavid was concerned about the impact of over-grazing and let the land return to its natural state, and then, to preserve this natural state for wildlife habitat in perpetuity, he donated the land to DUC as a conservation easement.
The McDavid Project secures 11 acres of wetland habitat and 91 acres of native upland habitat. An additional 60 acres of Crown wetland contained within the habitat area is also conserved under this conservation easement agreement. Improvements to the native habitat include the construction of new fencing and two waterfowl nesting islands. The land supports waterfowl, other wildlife and a wide range of plants. McDavid’s forward-thinking approach provides a lasting living legacy for all Albertans.
Conservation Easements are voluntary legal agreements between a landowner and a government or qualified conservation organization such as DUC. These agreements are tailored to each landowner and conserve the property’s natural values and features in perpetuity.
