Family-Outdoors

Last year, more than 8,000 Iowa taxpayers helped boost wildlife conservation with donations to the Fish and Wildlife Fund on their tax form. It is the third year in a row donations to the fund have increased, a trend that Stephanie Shepherd, DNR diversity wildlife biologist, hopes to continue in 2014. “The number of Iowans donating to the fund is growing after a 10-year downward trend,” said Shepherd. “Those donations go directly to research and habitat development for some of Iowa’s most vulnerable animal species, so the funds are very important for natural resources.” According to Shepherd, 8,000 Iowans donated almost $133,000 last spring when completing their 2012 tax forms. The Fish and Wildlife Fund, known popularly as the “Chickadee Check-off,” is a mechanism the Iowa Legislature created in the 1980s for Iowa citizens to donate to wildlife conservation on the Iowa state tax form. At its height, Iowans donated more than $200,000 annually to the fund. According to Shepherd, ...