PAUL BONDERSON JR

Paul Bonderson, Jr., chairman and past president of Ducks Unlimited protected wetlands, waterfowl and California’s hunting and conservation heritage.

The Sunol tech millionaire started a crusade to raise $1 billion to create wetlands habitat to benefit waterfowl and wildlife. He put several million of his dollars into his passion and has seen the results.

“I want to help create something for the next generation,” Bonderson said. “Just in California, we’ve lost more than 90 percent of our historic wetlands” to draining and conversion to farmlands in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, and to levees, infill and construction in the bay and delta.

“I know that protecting and creating wetlands really works to produce more birds,” he said. “I’ve done it myself on some of my own land.” At his 2,500-acre ranch in the Butte Sink near Colusa, Bonderson said that he and his sons have converted 1,500 acres from rice fields to wetlands.

Bonderson envisions a network of volunteers to fund and carry out the vision of restoring wetlands across North America. Part of the vision, he said, is to educate the public on how protecting wetlands habitat also provides homes for more than 200 species of birds, along with dozens of species of wildlife and endangered species.