Ducks Unlimited Staffers Receive 2025 Excellence in Conservation Awards

Ducks Unlimited

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – March 19, 2026 – Ducks Unlimited (DU) has announced its 2025 Excellence in Conservation Awards, created by DU's Conservation Programs Committee (CPC) to recognize outstanding conservation accomplishments and the DU staff members who made them possible. 

Any extraordinary accomplishment that supports DU's conservation mission of filling the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever is eligible for recognition. The 2025 awards were announced during the CPC winter meeting in Jekyll Island, Georgia. 

“Each of this year’s honorees has strengthened the foundation of our conservation mission in lasting ways,” said DU Chief Conservation Officer Dr. Karen Waldrop. “Their dedication ensures that the wetlands and waterfowl we work to protect today will thrive far into the future. The Excellence in Conservation awards program conveys the gratitude of DU’s volunteer leadership by highlighting the impressive talent and expertise of the DU Conservation Team.” 

DU Senior Engineering Technician Terry Gwin is the 2025 Ducks Unlimited Excellence in Conservation Lifetime Career Achievement Award winner, recognized for his sustained, long-term contributions to DU's conservation mission. For more than 26 years, Gwin has advanced Ducks Unlimited’s mission as a surveyor and construction inspector across DU’s Southern Region. His expertise in civil infrastructure has been vital to completing topographic surveys and construction on over 500,000 acres of conserved wetlands, often in the most challenging site conditions in North America. Through long days and nights away from home, Gwin’s dedication has ensured lasting benefits for countless wetland species and the people who depend on them. 

The following Ducks Unlimited Excellence in Conservation Exemplary Project Excellence Award winners are individuals or teams that undertook a unique or challenging project worthy of recognition.

McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge Shoreline Protection Project in Texas: Kevin Hartke, manager of Conservation Programs; Matt Nelson, conservation specialist; Jacob Cormier, construction manager; Matt Davis, engineering technician; Michael Plaza, regional engineer; Brian Terrell, project coordinator. The $24.6 million McFaddin Shoreline Protection Project is a landmark achievement in coastal conservation. Through a partnership between Ducks Unlimited and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the project safeguards critical waterfowl habitat, protects nationally significant infrastructure, and strengthens community resilience against storm surge and flooding. It also preserves the largest freshwater marsh on the Texas Coast, ensuring lasting benefits for the Chenier Plain’s ecosystems and communities for generations to come.

Sheboygan Marsh Project in Wisconsin: Brian Schuh, engineering technician; Tally Hamilton, regional biologist; Andre Carriveau, Director of Development. The Sheboygan Marsh dam replacement project represents the largest wetland enhancement in Wisconsin’s Great Lakes watershed. The new dam provides state‑of‑the‑art management capabilities that impact more than 6,500 acres in the 14,000‑acre complex. Initiated more than a decade ago, the project reflects the dedication of a diverse team of partners and funders who worked together to realize this vision. This $3.7 million effort delivers lasting benefits for waterfowl, recreation and the region’s ecology, standing as one of the most consequential projects ever completed under DU's Great Lakes Initiative. 

Henry Gray Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area Project in Arkansas: Nick Biasini, manager of Conservation Programs; Rick Parnell, construction manager; Terry Gwin, senior engineering technician; Billy Webster, Director of Engineering Services. Arkansas draws thousands of duck hunters each year to its famed flooded timber, but decades of prolonged flooding in Greentree Reservoirs have led to widespread red oak die‑offs across public lands. To address this forest health crisis, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission partnered with Ducks Unlimited to restore hydrology and enhance management capacity at Henry Gray Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area in White County, Arkansas. This $10 million effort restored and improved more than 5,800 acres of publicly managed forested wetlands, overcoming significant site challenges and construction hurdles. The project represents a major step toward safeguarding Arkansas’s storied waterfowl habitat and ensuring its legacy. 

South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project in California: Colin Dudley, regional engineer; Steve Carroll, manager of engineering services; Mason Hill, biologist; Nick Torrez, environmental compliance specialist; Renee Spenst, regional biologist; Jenna Casillas, project coordinator. The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project at Ravenswood is part of the largest restoration effort on the West Coast. This project required extensive technical expertise from Ducks Unlimited staff, partners, consultants and contractors to deliver conservation results in the South San Francisco Bay. The restored estuarine habitats now support waterfowl, fish, tidal marsh species and shorebirds, all in sight of Meta’s headquarters. The project demonstrates the power of collaboration to achieve lasting ecological benefits in one of the nation’s most challenging urban settings. 

The Distinguished Individual Achievement Award honors individuals who have demonstrated outstanding performance, contributions or achievements that meaningfully support Ducks Unlimited’s ability to deliver on our conservation mission. The 2025 winners are:

Dr. John Coluccy, director of conservation science and planning. Eastern mallard populations have declined by nearly 40% in DU’s Great Lakes and Atlantic regions, prompting a comprehensive research effort to understand the causes. DU, led by Coluccy, is advancing the Eastern Mallard Project to evaluate reproductive success, survival and habitat use across the species’ complete annual cycle. Over four winters, the partnership is deploying more than 1,300 GPS tracking devices on female mallards to provide unprecedented insights into migration and nesting patterns between eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. Now in its third year, the study is guiding habitat conservation strategies in both countries and strengthening DU’s Fall Flights program. The results will shape long‑term management strategies to reverse the decline of this iconic species and inform DU’s international conservation vision across the flyways.

David Hicks, regional biologist. In just over two years with Ducks Unlimited, Hicks has secured three North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants totaling $7.4 million for coastal projects in Louisiana, one of DU’s highest priority areas. His proposals have twice been ranked number one nationally and have placed in the top five each time. Beyond securing funding, David manages the Louisiana Mottled Duck Project and the Louisiana Waterfowl Project, providing technical and financial support to landowners to restore wetlands for wintering waterfowl and resident mottled ducks. In Fiscal Year 2025, these programs improved more than 3,300 acres, highlighting his impact and dedication to conservation along the Gulf Coast. 

The Outstanding Contractor Award recognizes a contractor, consultant, or other paid service provider to DU who has demonstrated superior quality in their work, exceeded project expectations, or maintained exemplary standards of professionalism and reliability. The 2025 winner is:

Dunneisen Excavating LLC in Wisconsin: Mike and Randy Dunneisen. Dunneisen Excavating LLC has become one of Ducks Unlimited’s most trusted partners in wetland restoration. Over the past two to three years, this father‑son duo has completed more than seven major projects, restoring over 1,000 acres, improving 2,500 acres of impounded water, and enhancing more than 15,000 acres of watershed across Wisconsin. Their quality work, reliability and innovation have made them a contractor sought out by partners statewide. From large‑scale dam rehabilitations like Duffy’s Marsh, to farmland conversions, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources property improvements and public efforts such as the Delevan Lake restoration, the Dunneisens consistently overcome difficult site conditions with custom‑built equipment and creative solutions. Their diligence, communication and willingness to educate others ensure that every project not only meets but exceeds expectations. Though a small crew, their impact is immense, leaving lasting benefits for waterfowl, wildlife and communities across Wisconsin, while embodying the values of family, hard work and conservation that define Ducks Unlimited. 

“Our Excellence in Conservation award recipients exemplify what it means to advance Ducks Unlimited’s mission with purpose and resolve, as we have seen throughout DU’s Conservation for a Continent campaign,” said CPC Chair Dr. Christine Thomas. “Their achievements safeguard critical habitats, elevate our science‑based work and move us closer to a continent filled with healthy wetlands and abundant waterfowl.” 

About Ducks Unlimited 
Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing wetlands, grasslands and other waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has restored or protected more than 19 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science, DU’s projects benefit waterfowl, wildlife and people in all 50 states. DU is growing its mission through a historic $3 billion Conservation For A Continent capital campaign. Learn more at www.ducks.org. 

Media Contact:

Gregg Powers 
(901) 758-3774 
gpowers@ducks.org