Illinois Ducks Unlimited [July 2012] A Word from Our Chairman Galen L. Johnson, 2012-2013 State Chairman The fiscal year for Ducks Unlimited has ended and the numbers are impressive. Illinois volunteers have exceeded state goals in most areas by a wide margin. In fact, total funds raised are over $2.09 million for the first time in several years. Each of you is to be commended for your work toward reaching our goals. Now, however, we must focus on our one shortcoming: we are down slightly in volunteer numbers. Volunteer numbers should be one of the easiest areas for us to improve. All it takes is for each of you to invite a friend, neighbor, or family member to join you on your committee. The benefits of this simple action are tremendous. First of all, it will reduce your workload on the committee. Second, with each new committee member, we increase the potential of adding members to the banquet through his/her invitees. Third, it allows for less stress on committee members and increases the amount of fun at your event. It is important to give your new volunteers something to do right after joining the committee to give them the feeling of being needed, which in turn, will inspire him or her to do more. In This Issue State Chairman Message 1 Contacts 2 State Facts 3 Conservation Corner 3 Chapter Spotlight 4 Events 5 The Back Page 8 You may have seen that DU released a newsletter recently announcing the latest duck survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There are great increases in most duck species, except pintails, widgeons, and scaup. The newsletter indicates a 7% increase in the population over last year, and this was only the sixth year the count exceeded 40 million ducks. While all this is good news, we need to keep the big picture in mind. All-time-high commodity prices and persistent wet weather in the nesting areas of the U.S. and Canada have led to the installation of drainage systems and conversion back to crops. In order to sustain these waterfowl population numbers, we need to continue to work toward preventing the loss of wetlands. This includes letting your elected officials know that effective wetland protections must be included in the next Farm Bill, and wetland restoration programs like the North American Wetlands Conservation Act must be funded at effective levels. Galen L. Johnson Illinois State Chairman
Illinois State Contacts Chairman Galen Johnson gljohnson@speednet.com Treasurer Bob Burton burtonrs@aol.com Secretary Bill Sarafin wjsarafin@gmail.com Greenwing Chairman Pat Killian pkillian@eastsidesupply.net Webmaster Jonathan Fields jfields@jfields.com Regional Staff NW Regional Director Brett Brown bbrown2@ducks.org Central Regional Director Jim King jking@ducks.org Southern Regional Director Jon Sturgill jsturgill@ducks.org NE Regional Director Rodney Schlafer rschlafer@ducks.org Regional Biologist Eric Schenck eschenck@ducks.org Featured Photo Shelley Anderson holds the winning ticket for the DU 75 th Anniversary Browning Maxus drawn at the Crawfish Boil in Princeton. We re not sure who is happier, Shelley or her son Kale! This Issue: Look what I won! Location: Princeton, Illinois Photographer: Bill Sarafin
State Facts Total Membership 28,110 Greenwings 2,061 Legacy Greenwings 650 Sponsor Members 1,806 Major Sponsors 406 2011 Grassroots Total $1,891,258 Total Acres Conserved 44,712 Conservation Corner DU ACQUIRES NEW IL RIVER PROPERTY DU recently purchased 232 acres along the Illinois River immediately north of Chillicothe. The property, which DU is calling Chillicothe Bottoms, includes wetlands representative of the Illinois River Valley. Managing these wetlands will be beneficial to local nesting wood ducks, migrating waterfowl, shorebirds, and other wildlife. Chillicothe Bottoms is the second property DU has acquired in the Upper Peoria Lake area with financial assistance from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and the Grand Victoria Foundation. DU s other property, known as Jenkins Marsh and VanZelst Fen, is located on the east side of Upper Peoria Lake and is adjacent to Woodford County State Fish and Wildlife Area. Altogether, these properties span 474 acres and represent a conservation investment of more the $1.6 million. The projects are part of a five-year program to protect and restore 5,000 acres of wetland habitat within the Middle Illinois River conservation opportunity area, a 150-mile reach of the Illinois River from Spring Valley to Meredosia. DU s goal is to restore and protect this important waterfowl migration corridor and to help preserve the hunting heritage associated with it.
Chapter Spotlight Mid-Northern Illinois The Mid-Northern Illinois DU Chapter #49 was established in 1978 and is located in the City of Freeport. Todd Brinkmeier is the Area Chairman. Bill: Todd, congratulations on your phenomenal event last month. I understand you increased your net/net to over $18,000 and your efficiency to over 65%. What made this event so successful? Todd: We have a great group of 19 volunteers on our committee who work really well together and share the same passions for waterfowl and waterfowl habitat. Everyone contributed to the success of our event. Bill: It also looks like you have quite a few Greenwings who attend your banquet. Todd: Yes, we feel it s important to bring kids into the DU family so they will learn and experience all the great things DU does for wetland habitat. After all, these are the future volunteers and leaders of DU. Bill: I could not agree with you more, Todd. Congratulations on your success. We really appreciate all you do for DU!
Upcoming Events Chicago 75th Anniversary Gala 7/28/2012 DU Leaders of Southern IL Annual Swing for Wings 8/4/ 2012 Region 5 Meeting 8/17/2012 For more information go to http://www.ducks.org/i llinois/events/
Ducks Unlimited is excited to announce that your chapter now has the chance to earn a handgun with the official DU logo to use in your fundraising efforts, with zero cost to your committee! The new Call Em In program officially kicked off on January 1, 2012. The members you recruit to DU are critical to our mission. In addition to their commitment to wetlands and waterfowl conservation, they increase DU s ability to attract advertisers and afford us critical influence with state and federal legislators. DU s Board of Directors recognized that we should be rewarding our chapters that are best at bringing members in and keeping them coming to events. The new Call Em In program does just that by giving events the ability to qualify for a no-cost handgun featuring the official DU logo. In order for an event to qualify, it must: Generate $5,000 net/net for a dinner event or $2,500 net/net for a non-dinner event Generate a minimum of 70 members Have no net loss of members from the prior year s event AND have 60% member retention from the prior year s event members Events that qualify in 2012 will be awarded the no-cost handgun for their 2013 event! If you need help with your membership retention and recruitment, you can download a copy of DU s Membership Recruitment Manual by clicking here: Recruitment Manual. This guide was developed by your fellow volunteers across the country, and is full of ideas to help you fill the halls at your event. More resources are also available at volunteergear.ducks.org or through your Regional Director. Thank you for all you do and good luck in this new, exciting program!
The Back Page Hi folks! I hope your summer is going well and you are surviving this heat and dry weather we ve been experiencing throughout the state. Let s hope and pray for some rain soon so we can get out of this drought! Your chapter committees should be well on their way to preparing for your fall events. I want to make sure you know about a new program DU kicked off in January called Call Em In. This program benefits chapters who bring in members and keep them coming back to events. Flip back two pages in this newsletter and you can learn more about it. I heard the DU 75 th Anniversary National Convention was absolutely awesome! Ask anyone who attended, and they will tell you what an outstanding event it was. Finally, please watch out for your dogs if you decide to train in this heat. Train early in the morning, keep the sessions short, and ensure they have access to plenty of water. Just imagine what it would feel like if you had to run around picking up bumpers with a fur coat on! Till next time, Bill Sarafin Editor 815-440-5494 wjsarafin@gmail.com