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Donate Now Chickadee Checkoff Landing Page
The Chickadee Checkoff is a line appearing on the Kansas Individual Tax forms. Since 1980, it has provided Kansans an opportunity to contribute to wildlife programs. The checkoff has allowed donations to projects for species of wildlife not normally hunted. In other words, if you want some money to go to projects to help eagles, songbirds, threatened and endangered species, turtles, lizards, butterflies and native stream fish, then this gives you the opportunity to donate directly to these programs.
The Chickadee Checkoff is not just for chickadees! Chickadee Checkoff provides funding for research and surveying projects to help determine the status of non-game species.
The Chickadee Checkoff supports all non-games species. It has funded dozens of projects that assess the status of threatened and endangered species and other animals on the state's Species in Need of Conservation list. It has also contributed to many nongame habitat efforts. Since 1985, the checkoff has sponsored the Backyard Habitat Improvement Program. Besides providing information and assistance to people for improving their yards for wildlife, a certification program is offered to recognize those people who have done the necessary or exemplary things for wildlife in their own backyards. The Chickadee Checkoff has supported hundreds of research and surveying projects to help determine the status of nongame species. Nearly 300 projects have been funded through the 40-year history of the checkoff to better understand nongame wildlife of Kansas.
Perhaps the most value of the checkoff has been its role in supplying match funding for the larger federal State Wildlife Grants program. While the checkoff has supplied over 4 million dollars through the years, much of this money has been used as leverage for much larger amounts from this federal program. Major projects funded through this matching of dollars have included the two major on-line atlases for reptiles, amphibians and mammals, natural area evaluations in Northeast Kansas, support for prairie re-establishments, and major survey work for sensitive aquatic species.
Even though it is a very small portion of our state wildlife agency's total budget, the Chickadee Checkoff has made a very big difference. Forty years ago, there was very little information being pursued about non-game wildlife. Today, with the additional support of match funding with the State Wildlife Grants program, there have been major strides made for the conservation of all wildlife, but particularly those non-game species of which so little is known.
Updates and reports on the projects that Chickadee Checkoff helped fund.
This program provides funding for habitat related work, researchers, educators, and naturalists to carry out projects focused on wildlife diversity and native non-game wildlife species.