I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season spending time with friends and family and days in the field pursuing your favorite game. Early waterfowl reports from Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana have been good. Recent rains in the lower Mississippi Valley have increased habitat availability which means that ducks can escape hunting pressure and are likely to remain until weather moves them.

We recently increased focus on securing non-traditional habitat dollars by the formation of the SRO Mitigation Team. Bobby Massey is heading the team with significant input and assistance from Eric Held. In addition to Bobby and Eric, team members are Dawn Browne, Jimmy Emfinger, Scott Manley and Tom Moorman. Early indications have been very encouraging with positive cash flow expected within 18 months.

The professionalism of our staff is matched by none, and as such, I encourage you to participate in your professional society by being an active member and attending state and regional events. Remember, one of DU’s core marketing segments is “Professional” and your participation in your professional society would help educate the professional segment.

Three important Board Events will occur in the Southern Region this year. In February, the Conservation Programs Committee will meet in Little Rock, Arkansas and the National Board of Directors meeting will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Wetlands America Trust Board will hold their Board meeting in New Orleans in March.

We are working toward a January 9^th deadline to have the first draft of our FY10 budget complete. Our strategic focus will continue to be on the Gulf Coast which winters almost 14 million ducks. The SRO will be the grantee on three of the 26 NAWCA projects which were recently recommended for funding by the NAWCA Council, one of which resulted in funding for work on the Texas Gulf Coast. The next step will be approval by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission. Also, we are working with our Washington DC staff to include potential SRO projects in the Stimulus Package that President-elect Obama is intending to sign on his first day in office – we submitted very significant funding opportunities for work along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Texas.

Staff, volunteer leaders, and members must work closely together to ensure that the “duck” momentum is not lost during the global financial difficulties. We are implementing our contingency plans as appropriate to ensure that Ducks Unlimted remains healthy and that the ducks will be served both short and long term. I know that I can count on you to rise to the occasion to help keep DU prosperous. Our mission is just too important for anything less.