#shamelesspuppypics
By Bruce Ross, Executive Director bruceross@wi.rr.com
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s December, 2020 Newsletter edition.
For a dog-owning hunter, is there anything more hope-filled than a new puppy? That new pup, even burdened with owner expectations of Best Dog Ever, is a bouncing, biting, joyous experience. Chock full of promise. Absolutely worth the sleepless nights.
So maybe it’s just the puppy breath of my new Labrador, Tack, but I’m feeling pretty optimistic about WWA’s 2021. Here’s why.
The state of WWA is strong. Most importantly, we have outlasted 2020 (big sigh). The pandemic forced our big plans to take a back seat to organizational survival. Only our members’ strong support, volunteers who stepped up their game, extraordinarily committed WWA staff, and some creative fundraising made this possible. The ongoing impacts of the pandemic will affect early 2021 events, so we’ll have to husband our resources, but even so, we should emerge stronger than we were at the beginning of this year.
I’ll recap 2020 accomplishments in our upcoming January issue, but here I’d like to look ahead to the new year. It’ll arrive quicker than a teal through your decoys, so we have to gear up now to be ready.
A new team takes the field…
- Board of Director openings: I’m disappointed to report that Randy Helbach, two term Secretary, is not running for re-election for his Director seat (but he’s making noises about coming back in a year or two!). This leaves us with a couple of openings. If you are willing to roll up your sleeves to grow our state-wide impact, give me a call (262-224-4949). No prior WWA chapter experience is required if you bring the drive and perspective to be a difference-maker. Come on in, the water’s fine.
- State-level committees: You don’t have to be a Director to be a member of a state-level committee. We have openings on Policy, Membership/Communications, Habitat, Education and Development. Find out more here.
- Staff structure: I’m very excited that we’ve stabilized our fundraising staff after a very turbulent 2020 – even adding new capacity. Rob Monette will handle the traditional chapter assistance, while recently retired (right!) Tom Seibert will explore the new state-wide raffle offerings.
… to Tackle New Opportunities.
- Game Planning: We will be revising our action plans in the next two months and hit the ground running with the annual meeting at the end of January. Those plans will provide a roadmap to increasing our outcomes throughout the state:
- Expanding membership, growing existing chapters and starting new ones.
- Prototyping habitat initiatives to increase impact on state duck populations.
- Increasing throughput in formal and informal hunter education programs
- Growing the voice of WIWaterfowlers in the policy and legislative halls of Madison.
A state-wide waterfowl extravaganza! WWA is leading the charge for the inaugural Waterfowl Hunters EXPO that will take place August 28th, 2021, at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds. We have a unique collaboration that includes all the state’s waterfowling organizations (WWF, DU, Delta, including the DNR and UW-Stevens Point). The effort is supported by professional event organizers and marketing gurus at Bast Durbin and Swift Waters (all pro bono, so THANK YOU Don, Connie and Shawn!). And with dozens of industry professionals playing a role, we expect to launch this event successfully in 2021, then grow it in the years to come.
- Check out, and please follow, the EXPO’s newly launched Facebook page to stay abreast of what’s coming.
- Want to be a part of this story? Lots of help is needed. Send me an email (bruceross@wi.rr.com) and I can hook you up!
- New hunting opportunities? Given the remarkable population of sandhill cranes, we will be exploring whether it makes sense to pursue a hunting season. Have some thoughts, or want to help?
Like a new dog, you’ll only get out of it what you put into it.