By Bruce Ross, Executive Director

This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s February 2020 Volunteer Newsletter edition.

A gentleman who attended WWA’s Annual meeting approached me recently to say how much he enjoyed the event, and could he help WWA identify potential restoration projects? Hell yes, I responded!!   At the annual meeting, Peter had reported that we have nearly 1.3 million acres of Wisconsin wetlands to retain and 180,000 acres to restore in the next 15 years!  That’s a tall order!! Peter and I are just beginning to scope out what such a volunteer opportunity looks looks like, but with the new habitat strategy published by the Wisconsin inter-organization and -agency habitat team (derived from Flyway plans), we need help finding worthwhile projects.  This will take us a little while to get off the ground, but it potentially will be a model for other future efforts.  More to follow.

Likewise, a strong Adopt A Wildlife Area (AWA) program volunteer (Ron Churchill) raised his hand recently to help us do something else we haven’t done before – tell the video story of a restoration project from start to finish which will help us tell the WWA restoration story better.  We will be looking to pair him up with Peter and a videographer to make that powerful message a reality a reality.   Want to help?

All of these “new” volunteer opportunities have at least two things in common – WWA and WI Waterfowling will benefit –  and we aren’t quite sure how to put it all together yet. But, if you can thrive in such a entrepreneurial environment, you might just have some fun and carve out a unique opportunity.  Let me know at [email]bruceross@wi.rr.com[/email].