Jamie Duininck (left), vice president of sales for Prinsco, Inc., receives a “Bronze Teal” award from Ducks Unlimited biologist Josh Kavanagh (center) and senior director of development Ron Stromstad WILLMAR, Minn., April. 29, 2009 - Restoring wetland habitat does not come cheaply. That’s why Ducks Unlimited appreciates Prinsco, Inc.’s donation of $10,000 worth of pipe materials to help DU install a water control structure on Olson Lake, east of Raymond, Minn. DU recently recognized Prinsco Vice President of Sales Jamie Duininck with a “Bronze Teal” award for his company’s generous donation, which will allow federal wildlife managers to manage the lake for optimal waterfowl habitat.
“Prinsco’s donation was key to helping DU fund this project,” said Josh Kavanagh, DU biologist who helped present the award at the Kandiyohi County DU Sponsors event in Willmar. “Prinsco’s donation complemented our traditional wildlife habitat funding partnerships on this project nicely, especially since they are a local corporation.”
Olson Lake is a 130-acre shallow wildlife lake almost completely contained within a 439-acre U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Waterfowl Production Area. The Olson Lake project was completed in 2008, and a temporary draw-down of water levels begun then will continue through 2010 to rejuvenate the aquatic ecology of the shallow lake basin.
The pipe material used in this application was Prinsco’s high-density polyethylene dual-wall pipe, ECOFLO HDPE, which is made from 50 percent recycled plastic material. Nearly 100,000 recycled gallon milk jugs went into in the manufacturing of the pipe used to improve Olson Lake. “It’s an environmentally-friendly product,” said Jim Streifel, DU regional engineer, “so we used sustainable materials to sustain duck habitat - a perfect fit for DU’s Living Lakes Initiative.”
In addition to DU, other funding partners in the project include USFWS through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, the Minnesota Environment & Natural Resources Trust Fund through an “Environmental Partners” grant administered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, and the Hawk Creek Watershed Project.
With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization with more than 12 million acres conserved. The United States alone has lost more than half of its original wetlands - nature’s most productive ecosystem - and continues to lose more than 80,000 wetland acres each year.
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Media contact: Becky Jones Mahlum, 701-355-3507 bjonesmahlum@ducks.org
Conservation contact: Josh Kavanagh, 320-354-3749 jkavanagh@ducks.org
For more information on DU’s programs in Minnesota, www.ducks.org/livinglakes