The Big Idea
Consider that at the time these men sat in Knapp's fishing cabin pondering the future of waterfowl, wildlife management was in its infancy. State and federal agencies were just getting their feet wet in this new science, pioneered by Aldo Leopold, professor of game management at the University of Wisconsin. Other universities and colleges were only beginning to offer courses in wildlife biology and management—thanks to the efforts of another conservation pioneer, Jay N. "Ding" Darling, who as chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey secured seed money in 1935 for launching what would become the cooperative wildlife research unit program at land-grant colleges.
While the conservation movement struggled for an identity and direction, so too had Knapp and More Game Birds. Initially, the Foundation had focused heavily on mimicking what was being done in Europe—raising and releasing domesticated birds into the wild.
Although More Game Birds experimented with raising and releasing ducks, they soon realized that preservation of wildfowl could not rely on a put-and-take approach. Waterfowl are international in their travels, and do not live and die in small areas, but over the course of a year use diverse habitats thousands of miles apart. They cannot be owned by an individual—even domestically raised and released mallards will eventually fly somewhere else, where they are considered fair game. Avid waterfowlers, one and all, the founders of More Game Birds understood these differences from the outset, and so began to assess what could be done to increase waterfowl populations. In the end, they adopted a strikingly different approach than the one they prescribed for upland birds.
Hatching eggs and releasing birds onto a farm is a pretty small idea. What ducks needed was a big idea, which was fleshed out in More Game Birds' book
More Waterfowl by Assisting Nature, published in August 1931. Distilling the science of the day, More Game Birds laid out what needed to be done for ducks:
It is not what man does but what he does not do for migratory waterfowl which is chiefly responsible for diminishing numbers. What is urgently needed is a program which will take no account of international boundaries, but will bring neighbor nations of the North American Continent into harmonious accord for the good of the game.
With the realization that what was needed was more habitat, instead of just more regulation, Knapp and his cohorts had placed themselves in the vanguard of the conservation movement, which was undergoing an "evolution of philosophies," as Curt Meine called it in his book
Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work. "The old idea of game protection rested primarily on the control of hunting," Meine wrote, while "the new idea of management rested on the control of the species' environment, of which hunting was but one factor."
The environment DU's founders would seek to manage was the Prairie Pothole Region of Canada. To do so, they would raise money from American sportsmen. But in order to operate in Canada, or to be able to purchase or own land there, the new organization would need to be incorporated according to Canadian laws. With that in mind, the men in the lodge set about to come up with a name for their new creation.
After a few names were bandied about, such as "More Ducks," Knapp suggested it be named simply "Ducks." Bartley reminded him that in Canada, corporations are legally designated as "Limited," which would mean that the new organization would be incorporated as "Ducks, Limited." Knapp, who had a quick temper, immediately snapped at Bartley, "Dammit, we don't want limited ducks!" At which point Bartley retorted, "Ducks Unlimited, then." And it stuck.
If the name Ducks Unlimited was born of a swift exchange of sharp wits, the events that led to its creation were neither swift nor without struggle. Just months after Knapp's summit on the Beaverkill, Ducks Unlimited was incorporated, on January 29, 1937. It was an auspicious beginning, but these were just the first steps in the long process of not only creating an organization, but also laying the foundation for its success.
Excerpted from The Ducks Unlimited Story
by Michael Furtman, which explores original source materials to provide the definitive account not only of DU's founding, but also of how DU's dedicated volunteers created the fundraising engine that made DU the world leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation. For more information on how to order this exciting new book, please call 1-800-45-Ducks or visit ducks.org/75book.