Over 50 friends and family of the late Ducks Unlimited (DU) committee chair, Bob Ward, gathered to honor him recently on the banks of the South Platte River, one of DU’s highest priority landscapes. The Bob Ward Memorial project was dedicated on April 29 at the 1,200-acre Centennial Valley State Wildlife Area (SWA) nine miles east of Greeley, Colorado.

Bob Ward, described as “a legend,” “everybody’s little buddy” and “a playful spirit,” was a pharmaceutical representative who died in 2004.

Ward’s friends from Greeley decided to raise some funds in his memory. “Helping to fund a DU wetland restoration was a much more fitting memorial than planting trees in a park,” said Ward’s friend, Loren Johnson. Donors raised $50,000 for the project with son, Seth Ward, donating t $36,000 to have a DU conservation project dedicated to Bob.

DU constructed six small plug dikes on the SWA in old meander scars, which flood the 200-acre project with irrigation water. The wetlands will be managed to provide migration habitat for waterfowl in both spring and fall. The picturesque site is an ideal setting to take a respite from our busy lives, enjoy the wonder of nature and remember the free spirit of Bob Ward.