By Bruce Ross, Executive Director
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s February 2020 Newsletter edition.
Annual Meeting. I just celebrated my one-year work anniversary at WWA’s annual meeting at Lambeau Field. If you didn’t attend, you missed a nice event – a great venue and chow, plus speakers on a wide range of waterfowl relevant topics, from policy to parasites and acknowledgement of the critical impact several long-serving volunteers have had on WIWaterfowling. And Corey Linsley – starting center for the Green Bay Packers – was there to receive our recognition of the Packers’ support of our efforts over nearly 35 years, joining fellow Hall of Fame inductees: Dan Witthuhn and John Regan (in front of meeting sponsor Associated Bank’s club level poster!).
Reviewing WWA’s 2019 activities fell to me, but keeping it within my 30-minute window was more difficult than I had imagined! After many hours of effort, I shrunk it to “only” 29 jam-packed presentation slides, which are linked here. Without the words, the slides may be a bit cryptic, but I hope you look through them to get the sense of what your WWA did this year.
In putting together these slides, I was struck once more about what our WWA does for our state waterfowlers. And I forced myself to try to capture it on a single slide:
Some of you reading this may not be members, and others may be lapsed members. I hope that you especially will take a look through the slides and see how WWA is bringing value to our shared WIWaterfowling community… and consider helping us do even more by joining – or better yet, becoming a sustaining member. I keep wondering who is providing these services for Minnesota Waterfowlers in the wake of that state’s waterfowl association’s demise.
WWA Habitat Update. Peter Zeigler gave an update on WWA habitat accomplishments this year (impressive) and presented an updated map (at left) showing the counties where we’ve made an impact on the landscape. But he, and several other speakers, noted that the DNR’s new WI Waterfowl Management Plan has 15-year goals (derived at the flyway-level) that dwarf our historical accomplishments: restore 183,000 acres of wetlands while retaining an additional 1.3M acres of wetlands in Wisconsin! A lot of work ahead! More on this plan in the coming months, when the DNR’s Jason Fleener helps us understand how we’re going to get there. Here are Peter’s slides.
Wisconsin Duck Hunter’s Conference. Finally, WWA’s Board of Directors met this past Friday to guide our organizational efforts and to welcome three new Directors: Tim Gerdmann from Tomahawk, Andy Ducato of Trevor, and Todd Schultz from La Crosse. These three high-energy guys,from around the state will help us grow our impact. Look for them at an event near you!
After a robust discussion, the Board also voted that WWA should help continue the Wisconsin Duck Hunter’s conference. So, we will work with other interested groups who want to see this unique conference continue… and if we are able to do so, there will be lots of opportunities for volunteers to play a role. Interested? Let me know [email]bruceross@wi.rr.com[/email].