As Iowans prepare their state tax returns, they’re reminded to remember the Fish and Wildlife Fund on Line 21 of Form 1040, what’s also known as the Chickadee Check-off. Stephanie Shepherd, a wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Diversity Program, says the fund was created in the 1980s to help protect many hundreds of species of non-game wildlife.
Programs devoted to game animals, like deer, ducks and pheasants, are paid for through hunters’ license fees, but more than a thousand other species, from salamanders to monarchs, — which make up the majority of wildlife in Iowa — rely on this fund. Last year, only about 46-hundred Iowans checked the box to contribute to the fund on their state tax forms. That’s barely three-tenths of one-percent of Iowa taxpayers.
Funding helps to improve wildlife habitat, restore native wildlife, and provides opportunities for people to learn about Iowa’s natural resources and more. The number of donors to the long-standing check-off has dropped by more than half in the last 20 years, so Shepherd is working to raise awareness.
Before the fund was created, non-game wildlife had no dedicated funding. The Wildlife Diversity Program still receives no state income tax funds and is primarily supported by this voluntary donation program on the state tax form — and from the sale of Natural Resources license plates. Donations can also be made online at: www.programs.iowadnr.gov/donations.
