BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Waterfowl and wetlands experts — including a soldier from the U.S. Army — outlined plans to protect Maryland’s most vulnerable habitat during a celebration of World Wetlands Day.

Ducks Unlimited, a nonprofit organization that preserves wetlands and waterfowl, hosted the event Friday afternoon at its Annapolis headquarters.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Joe Knott, dressed in fatigues, spoke about the ways the Army collaborates with nonprofits to preserve valuable habitat through the Army Compatible Use Buffer Program.

He helps groups such as Ducks Unlimited conserve land near military training grounds to cut down on the number of neighbors who complain about their midnight gunshots and other noisy activities.

“In Iraq, you don’t stop at midnight,” Knott said. “I get to protect the land and protect my soldiers.”

The next area the Army plans to help preserve is a 142-acre site in Churchville located outside an area where the military tests war vehicles, Knott said.

But saving land is expensive, and it takes strong partnerships between many organizations to get it done, Knott said.

Representatives from Ducks Unlimited also used the World Wetlands Day celebration as a platform to talk about their ongoing work to preserve wetlands in Maryland this year.

They plan to restore 40 acres of wetlands and grasslands at the Jean Ellen duPont Shehan Audubon Sanctuary, located on a peninsula in Bozman. It will be used as an demonstration site to teach the public about the value of wetlands, said Grace Bottitta, manager of conservation for the mid-Atlantic states branch of Ducks Unlimited.

Ducks Unlimited is partnering with the D.C. Audubon Society, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and United States Fish & Wildlife Service on the project.

Despite all of these efforts, wetlands are increasingly threatened by development and pollution, Bottitta said.

“Wetlands give us our clean water, our habitat for waterfowl, our fish populations. Due to urban development, they are being built upon, piece by piece,” Bottitta said.

The United States loses 80,000 acres of wetlands each year, and the lower 48 states have lost a total area equal to the size of South Dakota and Nebraska combined since the 1600s, Bottitta said.

lgreenback@baltimoreexaminer