Ducks Unlimited Canada feels the love from Whitecourt after a fantastic fundraiser on Saturday, April 14

Since 1938, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) has influenced 7.3 million acres of wetlands in Alberta alone. As a not-for-profit registered charity, DUC conserves, restores, and manages wetlands which is critical to the survival of waterfowl, wildlife and, ultimately, the environment. The group works together with landowners, industry, government and its partners to protect the wetlands and to make sure that their physical and functional characteristics are returned to the state they should be and supported.

In large part, the success of Ducks Unlimited comes from its volunteers and supporters. Without that support, they would be unable to persevere in their mission to protect wetlands for future generations. Fundraising events are a very important part of the process and throughout Alberta there are 59 annual events which provide financial support for the 1,991 habitat projects currently underway in the province.

On Saturday, April 14 Whitecourt’s chapter held its annual Ducks Unlimited Dinner and Auction event at Central School. As a new addition this year, and to celebrate DUC’s 80th anniversary, they added a Ducks Carnival which featured numerous fun stations including duck pong, trivia, blackjack darts, duck shoot, and mini basketball hoops. Everyone who played was aiming to collect as many “quackers” as they could to then use them towards the countless auction items.

During the evening, on top of fundraising for DUC, the group was also fundraising for two other groups. “We have the Whitecourt Cadets club helping us out and, in turn, we are going to live auction off a print and the proceeds will go to them,” explained Dean Amiot, Chair of Whitecourt DUC.

The Humboldt Broncos were also on the minds of fundraisers and those attending. “We also have two jerseys that we are going to live auction off. They are Whitecourt Wolverines jerseys and they have Broncos embroidered on the back of them,” said treasurer Amanda Stanchfield.

Halfway through the evening, an announcement was made of a partnership between Ducks Unlimited Canada and Millar Western Forest Products. Initially, it was released on World Water Day (March 22, 2018). The partnership, called the Boreal Wetland Stewardship Partnership, will serve to conserve wetlands within Alberta’s working forest. The two groups will work together on several projects to ensure effective conservation of wetlands and waterfowl within Millar’s Forest Management Agreement (FMA) area near Whitecourt.

Bob Mason, Chief Forester at Millar Western, said the partnership was born out of wanting to better understand and improve their own process. “We were going to be starting our Detailed Forest Management Plan (DFMP) which is a plan you put together every 10 years, and it looks after many of the values well beyond timber, and wetlands are one of them. We found that just the mapping itself was quite weak in what we were doing so we enlisted DUC to work with us. We developed the approach that we are taking here now with this Memorandum of Understanding to work on getting their wetland mapping product and to get training to our staff so that we can better understand it. We don’t log in the wetlands but the interaction between our wetlands and where we do log, we definitely want to understand that better.”

Many of the raffles and auction items were donated and that generosity allows DUC to raise the funds it needs to continue supporting the wetlands. “Our mission is to preserve wetlands in Alberta so that we have a future for nesting birds as well as the marshlands because they are filters for the aquifers to give us fresh water,” said Dean. “The main reason that I do this is for our children. So that we have fresh water and animals that all thrive and live on wetlands in Alberta.”

Dean joined the Whitecourt chapter in 2010 and has seen a lot of money raised for the cause in that time. “We’ve probably raised around $250,000 in the Whitecourt area since 2010. With that, our money gets put together with DUC money and for every dollar we raise here, DUC, through their efforts, adds another two dollars. So, for every dollar we raise here, we actually raise three dollars for Alberta.”

Thanks to a very generous and giving crowd at Saturday night’s event, $40,000 was raised within just a matter of hours. Add in the fact that Ducks Unlimited will add two dollars for every dollar raised, that means that $120,000 was raised for Alberta conservation. Amanda said when it came time to auction off the Wolverines jerseys in support of Humboldt, the crowd was feeling the love. “The jerseys for the Broncos brought in $4,000! The energy in there during that specific auction was so amazing and emotional. Once they sold, the whole crowd stood up and cheered.”

DUC is always looking for more people to join their 1,235 volunteers within Alberta and the local chapter would certainly appreciate more support, too. Those interested in learning more about joining the flock can visit www.ducks.ca/volunteer or join the Facebook page Whitecourt Ducks Unlimited.