Conservation for the 21st Century
Growing challenges facing conservation in the 21
st
Century require innovative teamwork among all branches of Ducks Unlimited’s operations to achieve our mission. Volunteers and staff in the Great Lakes/Atlantic Region over the past year continue to forge new collaborations, resulting in several major achievements to benefit wetlands and waterfowl.
In Minnesota, our dedicated volunteers and generosity of major donors have helped lead to tens of
thousands of acres
of critical prairie and shallow lake habitat conservation. The state
is also home to
the National Regional Director and National Director of Development of the year.
In Wisconsin, Ducks Unlimited President Rogers Hoyt’s directive to build and expand policy efforts has resulted in an organized team of policy volunteers becoming a highly mobilized and skilled team enhancing Ducks Unlimited policy mission. The volunteers on several occasions have coalesced to push for important wetland issues in Madison and in our nation’s Capital.
Ducks Unlimited’s partnerships created Howard Marsh in Ohio,
an award-winning
1,000-acre new metropark already drawing thousands of visitors to view wildlife.
We are excited to build on these successes in 2019, and encourage you to follow along with our newsletters to learn what we can all achieve by working hard, together.
-Great Lakes/Atlantic Regional Leadership Team
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Illinois
250 acres of new public land added near Goose Lake
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A 247-acre tract of land was merged into the Woodford State Fish and Wildlife Area north of Peoria, part of the major Illinois River corridor for migrating birds including waterfowl.
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Completing the Cycle Initiative
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New York
DU, state partner to enhance nearly 8,000-acre wetland
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A healthier Perch River Wildlife Management Area is 65 acres closer to reality. Ducks Unlimited completed an important phase of the $2.5 million enhancement project.
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Michigan
More than 1,400 acres conserved in 2018
The milestones added to a sizeable historical investment in Michigan. Over the last 30 years, Ducks Unlimited has protected, restored or enhanced nearly 84,000 wetland acres on more than 400 project sites across the state, investing $43 million into wetland habitats.
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Minnesota
Large acquisitions, restorations improve shallow lake landscape
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Ducks Unlimited completes 20 projects and more than 23,000 acres of conservation in 2018 across vital Prairie Pothole habitat.
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Second State Chair Fly-in unites ducks, legislators
More than 50 Ducks Unlimited volunteers and staff met with federal legislators in Washington D.C. on Jan. 29 and 30. They discussed wetlands conservation funding and policy, including the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.
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DU mourns conservation icon John Dingell
Former Rep. John Dingell of Michigan died Thursday, Feb. 7. During his 59-year tenure, was the longest serving member of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission and was intimately involved in the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.
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Minnesota
- Ducks Unlimited on Feb. 7 participated in the Public Lands Day Rally at the Minnesota Statehouse. GLARO Director of Operations, David Brakhage, addressed a crowd of over 100 in the rotunda who braved the blizzard conditions to attend this event. Ducks Unlimited volunteers and staff attended from around the state to promote state public lands.
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Ohio
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Reece Nickol from Piqua, Ohio is Ducks Unlimited’s newest State Policy Chairman and first ever chairman for the state of Ohio. Reece has already attended the State Chair Fly-in in Washington, D.C. and represented at state-based meetings. Pictured is Ohio Division of Wildlife Chief Kendra Wecker, Reece and Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz.
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Connecticut
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Ducks Unlimited State Chair Jim Evans, and State Policy Chair Larry Davis and past State Chair John Kovarik testified Feb. 22 at the state capitol in Hartford opposing a series of bills that would adversely impact professional fish and wildlife management and residents' ability to hunt and trap.
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Video highlights Energy Transfer accomplishments
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Tour Energy Transfer’s partnership with Ducks Unlimited in Ohio, which has benefited more than a dozen ongoing conservation projects through the Big Rivers Initiative and Great Lakes Initiative.
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Minnesota DU Ice Fishing Party Draws 4,000 People
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Fishing for Ducks Ice Fishing Contest, the largest attended Ducks Unlimited event in the nation, raised more than $200,000 on Mille Lacs Lake on Feb. 16.
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Decline in hunters takes toll on conservation revenue
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"If you kayak, hunt, fish, go out into nature and take photos, get a duck stamp. And get one every year.”
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Great Lakes Region Gets Big Conservation Boost From Ducks Unlimited
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“But we are always making progress, thanks to support from federal, state, and private organizations that are as serious about protecting and restoring the Great Lakes Region as we are.”
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Ducks get additional wetlands at Woodford wildlife area
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"The area on the Illinois River just north of Peoria now spans over 3,000 acres as a result of a purchase of 247 acres from Ducks Unlimited to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources."
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Conservation in challenging times
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Scott Glup, Litchfield Wetland Management District project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was named Ducks Unlimited 2018 Minnesota Conservation Partner of the Year.
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‘Plugging up’ a unique Delmarva bay
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“There's some other organizations where you can donate your land... but to keep it a working farm it seemed like Ducks Unlimited was the best program for me.”
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Ducks Unlimited received a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2018 to hire a new biologist to help to implement the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Black Duck Working Lands for Wildlife Initiative. The initiative partners with landowners across the Delmarva Peninsula to restore waterfowl habitat on agricultural working lands. The new biologist,
Chase Colmorgen
, will work closely with NRCS staff to identify interested landowners and potential projects across the Peninsula. His position will compliment and expand Ducks Unlimited’s ongoing private lands restoration work in the region.
(410) 690 - 7346 (office)
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Mark Steinfest,
senior engineering technician, joined Ducks Unlimited in January. Mark’s position is a cost-share with the Natural Resources Conservation Service; he will split his time between delivering NRCS easement programs and engineering services for Ducks Unlimited in Wisconsin.
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The Great Lakes/Atlantic Region has reorganized its conservation leadership structure and promoted its four managers of conservation programs to directors of conservation programs:
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Mark Flaspohler
Director of Conservation Programs, Big Rivers Initiative
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Sarah Fleming
Director of Conservation Programs, Completing the Cycle
Initiative
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Jason Hill
Director of Conservation Programs, Great Lakes Initiative
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Jon Schneider
Director of Conservation Programs, Living Lakes Initiative
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Keep in touch with news from across the country:
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