Insights - Rebuilding Dreams and Habitat
by Don Young
Spring brings with it thoughts of renewal and promise, often stimulated by sights of trees in bloom, ducks winging their way to the breeding grounds, spring cleaning, or perhaps something much more ambitious such as rebuilding an important part of your life. In this edition of Ducks Unlimited magazine, we explore the passionate commitment of a representative group of waterfowl hunters and conservation leaders to rebuild their hurricane-damaged duck clubs along the Louisiana coast. This story reveals the results of the devastation from different perspectives: the loss of facilities and artifacts that represented a long and proud waterfowling tradition at the historic Tally-Ho Club, the race against time that framed the Hackberry club’s determined effort to salvage a business, and the anxiety the hurricane brought to the Haydel family when it ruined their duck camp and contributed to the illness of their patriarch. All three clubs decided to rebuild.
Their commitment to rebuild a tradition, a business, and a family dream tells us something about the fundamental nature of waterfowlers. Duck hunters believe in renewal and can always see a better day ahead. One of our defining characteristics is hope. Although we may not have seen a duck in three days, we believe tomorrow’s sunrise will bring new birds. From day to day and from one duck season to the next, we never lose hope and remain committed to constant improvement.
In the 1930s, when prolonged drought devastated the continent’s duck populations, waterfowlers could see a better day ahead. They founded Ducks Unlimited because they refused to give up hope that duck numbers would rebound.
Today, that same spark of hope continues to burn brightly within every waterfowler. We see its intensity and promise at Ducks Unlimited events all over the continent. Waterfowlers gather in support of DU because they believe we can prevail in our efforts to secure the habitat ducks and geese need in order to thrive. And we see the remarkable power of hope in each of DU’s habitat initiatives and in every DU project. Tomorrow can indeed be a better day.
But hope isn’t enough, and as is often said, “Hope is not a strategy!” That’s why other fundamental characteristics of waterfowlers—making a plan and then following up with resolve and persistence—are equally or more important. Ducks Unlimited has always embraced these qualities, and they form the foundation of our ambitious, continent-wide Wetlands for Tomorrow campaign. Conservation and restoration of the Gulf Coast’s vital wetlands are a key element of this campaign, and DU has already pledged $15 million to get this started. Millions of acres of other important waterfowl habitat like those along the Gulf Coast are at risk, including key habitat in the Prairie Pothole Region (see “Biofuels and Ducks” on page 50), the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and the Central Valley of California. The challenge of conserving so much vital habitat is daunting. But because of our hope, our planning, our resolve, and our persistence, we will succeed.
Over the last 70 years, these qualities shared by all waterfowlers have fueled the conservation of more than 12 million acres of important nesting, migration, and wintering habitat. Combined, they create a powerful force that can shape a better future for the ducks and for our hunting traditions. These attributes make Ducks Unlimited both unique and dynamic. No matter the extent of the challenge or the adversity that may come our way, waterfowlers never lose hope and never quit. And neither will Ducks Unlimited. Like those Louisiana waterfowlers who stood amid the ruins of treasured duck clubs, we can see a better day ahead—one with abundant habitat to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow, and forever.