Complete The Circle- By Tom Lutes
Complete the Circle
By Tom Lutes
I vividly recall when the notion first struck me to get more involved in waterfowl conservation efforts. I was on my first hunting trip to the Missouri Coteau prairie pothole region of Saskatchewan. As is normal practice on the prairie, you do a lot of driving in the scouting process to locate concentration of ducks. During these scouting trips it struck me as stark the amount of plowed ground right up to the edge of all of the wetland marshes. In fact, since it was a dry year, many of the temporary wetlands had been plowed or hayed. At the time, I had absolutely no knowledge or experience in the science or biology of wetlands or waterfowl resources. However, I intuitively knew that what I was seeing out the truck window was a bad deal for the ducks and the duck hunter.
Coincidently, shortly thereafter I was exposed to the Wisconsin waterfowl Association as a result of a wetland restoration project the WWA was doing on a piece of land that I lease. Through the prairie experience and the being involved in my own little piece of duckland, a fire was lit to find out more about what drives and endangers the resource that I love so much.
Get Educated
Step one in the process was to educate myself on the various aspects of the waterfowl resource and the various types of habitat critical to their well being. I was fortunate to have my own little classroom in the small wetland restoration project I was involved with. In addition, I had a strong thirst for any type of information that would further my understanding of what made the duck factory tick. I read, attended day trip field workshops and got involved with any organization that watched over the waterfowl resource, such as Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, Duck Unlimited, Wisconsin Waterfowl Conference, USA Waterfowl and others.
I learned from many along the way, including individuals, conservation organizations members and state and federal biologists. One person who stands out in this education was Jeff Nania, the Executive Director of Wisconsin Waterfowl Association. Jeff is high energy, very knowledgeable and passionate about wetland restoration. But his first love is teaching others and I was fortunate to absorb a little from him as we worked on my restoration project. It was here that I first learned that it is not about just digging a pond, but restoring the landscape to its historic state to allow the "system" of hydrology, wetland vegetation and upland habitat to properly interact and work the way it once did before man botched it up in the name of progress.
Get Involved
The next step was to make the commitment to volunteer time to the cause. I first signed up to be on the local event committee for my local Ducks Unlimited chapter. This was rewarding and yet another step in the learning process. From there and as a result of my further involvement with the WWA, I eventually became a member of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin waterfowl Association. This has allowed me to learn even more and make a larger impact on the resource.
Even though I am a Director for the WWA, I am not of the group that views all other conservation groups as the "competition". Sure we all are chasing the same dollars, but in the end I follow the old saying "it's all good". In fact, I would contend if we could ask the ducks, they would prefer we work together more, not less. Multiple conservation organizations successfully exist, even in the same area such as waterfowl, because we tend to carve out our own niches. Over time these collective, but different efforts, will make one plus one equal three.
Get Focused
In business we often talk about if you try to be all things to all people all of the time, you will likely fail. I was drawn to the WWA because they have a unique focus and niche in the world of waterfowl resource management.
The Wisconsin Waterfowl Association is unique in several ways:
- All of the funds raised stays in the State of Wisconsin. Although there are many important areas in the North America that need attention, most notably the prairie pothole region ("The duck factory") in the U.S. and Canada, Wisconsin wetlands are particularly relevant to the Wisconsin duck hunter in that nearly 70% of the ducks shot in Wisconsin are raised in Wisconsin.
- The WWA takes an active role in the capitol fighting for hunter's rights. Most recently we have fought and made a difference in the Upper Mississippi CCP plan and the hunting rights on public lands purchased with Stewardship funds.
- WWA is the only organization that has its own field habitat teams that performs wetland restoration.
- WWA takes an active role in providing manpower and expertise to numerous environmental charter schools in the state.
Get Rewarded
To most of us hard core waterfowlers, it is a life style and not just an event that last 60 days. Learning more about the resource and getting involved in conservation efforts is another step in the overall process. It is very similar to the deer hunter who moves from just hunting to managing a piece of land for whitetails. It is not only fun, but will make you a better hunter and "extend" your season through out the calendar. I have barely scratched the surface in learning about the needs of the waterfowl resource, but I look forward to the never ending journey in learning about the resource.
I am not ready to say it is better than a bunch of canvasbacks cupped over the blocks, but getting educated on the resource and getting involved to make a difference provides a uniquely rewarding experience that completes the circle in the overall waterfowling experience.