By Bruce Ross, Executive Director bross@wisducks.org
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s May, 2024 Newsletter edition.
Last month was Volunteer Recognition Month and I missed an opportunity to use this article to acknowledge the critical importance of volunteers in WWA’s expanding impact. The examples are many:
Mike Alaimo out in the field on an Adopt a Wildlife Area project
- Todd Schaller (2024’s WWA Volunteer of Year) has elevated our learn to hunt program from a single chapter’s event, to multiple events around the state, acquired, while leading the EXPO’s volunteer efforts.
- Bart Tegen is managing the construction and distribution of our wood duck boxes, which result in thousands of ducklings each year
- Ryan Disterhaft manages a bunch of those boxes in the field, and has just stepped up to help coordinate the Adopt a Wildlife Area (AWA) program around the state – and helped advance the idea for our public lands initiative.
- Speaking of AWA, there are score of volunteers who get their fingernails dirty in local marshes to make them better places to be.
- Mike Alaimo, of the Waukesha Chapter, started WWA participation in the AWA program, including prototyping the widely respected black tern nest platform initiative. I just learned that in his 13 years leading the Waukesha Chapter, they’ve raised nearly $400,000 to support WWA’s initiatives (wow!)
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Volunteers from WWA’s Valley Chapter installing wood duck boxes
The Valley Chapter volunteers, led by Brad Miller, who put on several funraising events, manage over a hundred wood duck boxes, while also engaging local students in the effort.
- B.J. Grassmann, chair of the Habitat Committee, who keeps our habitat programs driving forward and managing our volunteer rice collection efforts.
- Ryan and Jessica Peterson’s development of a waterfowl-based middle school science curriculum (see the article in this month’s newsletter)
- Doug Steiner’s Green Bay Chapter, that puts on the biggest WWA gala of the year, and quietly maintain WWA’s only property in Abrams (by the way, they’ve just secured a contract with NRCS to do significant forest, upland and wetland restorations on this neat property to be managed by volunteer Jesse Nichols).
- Dave Elwing and the Midland Wings Chapter who have started a wood duck box program on Theresa Marsh and continued a legacy banquet event. Dave is also our board secretary and has gone above and beyond to help staff in our development efforts.
- George Ermert, a director and professional lobbyist who bears a heavy responsibility for the policy success we’ve enjoyed over the last few years (think duck stamp increase and advancing a sandhill crane season) and managing some of communications that lead to our recent bump in earned media recognitions.
- John Regan’s creative solutions to fundraising challenges in sleepy Chilton (apologies to Chilton).
- And there are so many, many, many more, that I would run out of space and miss the newsletter deadline to specifically acknowledge each one (as it is, I will be chastised for who’ve I’ve not mentioned, I’m sure…)
These few named and the MANY more unnamed volunteers are responsible for WWA’s recent growth in impact on behalf of state waterfowlers. And what’s common among them all is a passion for waterfowling and the wetlands that support them, coupled with their willingness to put their energy where their passion is. Thank you all!
I’d love to have the deeper pockets that the larger waterfowling organizations enjoy. But we simply don’t. WWA’s impact depends on the energy of passionate volunteers – not just to raise funds (yes that’s important too) – but to advance our missions at all.
What I love about this organization is its ability to take a person’s waterfowling passion and their particular interests and skillsets and then find the right place for them to maximize their impact on state waterfowling. Interested? Let’s talk. bross@wisducks.org
See you in the marsh (or maybe out on the lake fishing – happy opener!)
Bruce