he giant inflatable duck was visible for miles. It was almost as big as the smiles seen during Duck Day.

Duck Day is a community appreciation event, celebrating the support that DUC has from the entire DUC family: partners, landowners, volunteers, and other supporters.

The events were held this year at the Beaubassin Research Station in Aulac, N.B., the Notre Dame Rod and Gun Club in Lewisporte, NL, and at the Greenwing Legacy Interpretive Centre within the Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park, NS.

Shrieks of laughter could be heard as children and families enjoyed various activities including critter-dipping, face-painting booth, building nest boxes and birdhouses, a free BBQ, and the chance to meet up with all of the other people whose support helps DUC conserve wetlands in their community.

We’d like to give a special “Thank you!” to the many sponsors for these events, as well as to all of you who came out to visit us and share in the celebration!

Duck Day Events Celebrate Community Support

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Eastern Duck and Goose Calling Championship Join us at the Atlantic Hunting and Fishing Expo in Sussex, NB

Competition Registraion - $20 - single person

(youth under 16 - free) Sunday, September 14th

10am-2pm

A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FOR DUC SUPPORTERS IN ATLANTIC CANADAVOLUME 3-15

Atlantic Connections

ducks.ca

ducks.ca/eventsWant to Volunteer, just click and sign up here: http://vols.pt/g3Fc7J

All participants recieve a registration package and chances to win door prizes.

Event update: New Brunswick

would like to thank all of our volunteers whose hard work through the spring resulted in some terrific events. A couple special moments from the spring include;

A sell out at the Headpond. Just two years prior to this event the Headpond event was attended by 52 people. This year on March 29th, after two years of hard work by the new committee, the event was sold out and the Headpond committee was the first DUC committee to qualify for the President’s Grand Slam Club!

Some quick thinking in Gagetown. Not only did the Gagetown committee (accidentally) over sell their event, they also came up with a last minute trick to augment their auction. The day of event we set up a projector and screen and that night we sold 5 items off the screen, helping them attain the President’s Grand Slam Club. A special thanks to Shawn Douthwright for making the deliveries!

Our fall events will be kicked off by the Hampton chapter on September 6th, 2014. The Hampton committee will be celebrating their 25th anniversary with a sellout crowd as they shoot to be the first fall event to join the Grand Slam Club!

New Brunswick will also be hosting two new events this fall. The Fredericton Fall Feast will be held at the Ducks Unlimited Conservation Centre on October 2nd and is shaping up to be a unique event. On October 25th the Grand Manan chapter will be holding their first event since 2005. I am looking forward to having a great evening on a beautiful Island!

Thank you again to everyone who is working to support DUC and our mission here in New Brunswick, Atlantic Canada and across the country.

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olunteers across Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island held fantastic events this spring, and I’d like to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication. I’d also like to share

some stories from the great event held in the Annapolis Valley on April 26th.

First of all, we had some special guests, from Somerset and District Elementary School.

They were there to mark a very special milestone in DUC’s history: the announcement of that school as the very first elementary school to be designated as a DUC Wetland Centre of Excellence.

Students at a Wetland Centre of Excellence learn leader-ship and conservation via hands-on learning. They steward a local wetland, and get involved in conservation projects, taking action in their community while mentor-ing other students and their parents.

This designation came together thanks to the efforts of Valley committee members who wanted the community’s children to learn about conservation and the value of wetlands. They worked with the school, the Annapolis Valley School Board and the Cornwallis Headwaters Society (CHS) to make it happen.

Another special moment took place when young Liam Kozera was recognized as a Newalta Wetland Hero, for his efforts towards wetland conservation. On his past birthday, Liam selflessly asked for money to donate to DUC, instead of presents.

Thank you to all of our volunteers for your great work. 2014 is shaping up to be our best year ever!

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ERIC MORGAN, MANAGER OF EVENTS AND VOLUNTEER RELATIONS

Event update: Nova Scotia/P.E.I.JAMIE YOUNG, MANAGER OF EVENTS AND VOLUNTEER RELATIONS

Merebeth Switzer, National Manager of Education for DUC, with the principal and teachers from Somerset and District Elementary School

his spring, we held some fantastic events. One that stands out in particular was the nesting box

workshop that we held with Pearce Junior High in Burin.

Jody Brushett founded the Burin Peninsula chapter last year, and wished to work with a group in order to improve habitat for cavity-nesting species.

The students spent their after-school time on the project for a few weeks, resulting in the construction of 25 new nesting boxes, which will provide homes for species like

the common goldeneye, which has a large population on the Burin Peninsula. The students will also learn how to monitor and maintain the boxes, which will benefit the ducks and will also hopefully further these students’ interest in conservation.

Volunteers in this province continue to do a wonderful job getting everybody

excited about conserving wetlands, and we don’t know what we would do without them!

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evin Harris still remembers the first Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) art print he ever saw. “It was in Mirami-chi, New Brunswick, and

it was a print of some Canada Geese, and was titled ‘Proud Canadian’. It really resonated with me, and I decided to get in touch with them to see if I could be involved.”

Kevin joined the Miramichi dinner committe in 1987, and in 2000, he became a national board member.

Kevin is currently DUC’s Senior Director for New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and is also the Chair of Conservation Programs.

Now living in Rothesay, Kevin continues to link back to the grassroots supporters of DUC.

“When you volunteer, it’s because you want to do the right thing. As a director, you take on that national responsibility, but the more that you work nationally, the more you realize that DUC’s strength

is because of those grassroots support-ers, and that the issues faced by a committee in Charlottetown really aren’t that different than the issues faced by a committee in Red Deer.”

Kevin’s commitment to conservation will also last well into the future. As part of DUC’s Planned Giving program, he’s arranged for a legacy gift to be left to DUC. “I wanted to create that legacy and to help make sure that DUC can continue its conservation work well into the

future.”

For now, Kevin is looking forward to having even more great experiences as a member of the DUC family:

“I’ve been fortunate to have been here for some incredible mile-stones with DUC. I’ll never forget the time that we hosted the four Atlantic Canadian premiers and the governors of New England. That was the first time something like that was done in Canadian history.”

When asked what advice he would give to someone thinking of volunteering with DUC, Kevin grows serious:

“I want all volunteers to know that they’re not alone. We’re a team, and we’re all here to support each other. Our organization works best when we all work together, and there are people here with a lot of experience that they’re only too happy to share.”

Event update: Newfoundland and LabradorPAUL WOOD, MANAGER OF EVENTS AND VOLUNTEER RELATIONS

Volunteer Spotlight: Kevin Harris

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National Director Kevin Harris

Supporting Wetland Conservation: Our 1st Quarter Highlights -

FEDERAL CONSERVATION ANNOUNCEMENTSPrime Minister Stephen Harper announced the National Conser-vation Plan on a visit to New Maryland, NB. This positive devel-opment was further explained by Minister of Environment, Leo-na Aglukkaq, in both Fredericton and Halifax. DUC Atlantic staff and board members were present at all three announcements, and had very positive conversations with the Prime Minister and Minister Aglukkaq.

DUC staff were also present at a funding announcement in PEI, where Minister of Fisheries, Gail Shea, announced funding for the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program.

REBUILDS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENTInspections started in mid-April, and staff are finding more dam-age than average, which is being attributed to the harsh winter and spring that we experienced this year.All of the planning is in place for the fishway rebuild at Front Lake, NB. This project is on CWS land and is over 400 acres of habitat. The tenders have been awarded and work will start shortly. Work was also done on Marshall’s Cove and Larch Swale, both in New Brunswick. These projects are now back in good operating condition.Preparation work took place as well for Milford Station and North Brook, both in NS . Nova Scotia also saw maintenance work on over 20 projects, many as a result of winter damage.

On PEI, tenders are being prepared for fishway rebuilds at Har-mony Junction, Staverts Pond, and 2nd MacLeods.

NL POLICY EFFORTS CONTINUENL Policy efforts have continued with a draft Newfoundland and Labrador Wetland Policy submitted to Department of Environ-ment and a draft wetland policy for the City of St. John’s. Both of these efforts will help with the advancement of stronger protec-tion for wetlands in NL.

MONITORING FISHWAYS IN PEIIn partnership with UPEI, we have been monitoring seven fish-way sites. Our work was recently highlighted in a YouTube video created by UPEI. (Click HERE to view.)

WETLAND RESTORATION PROJECTS FINISHING UPConservation staff have started to polish their winter work (Etter Ridge, Beausejour, Beaubassin Research Cells, Sears Marsh) with the installation of a few structures, access road repairs and berm landscaping. The winter work held up really well. There was a bit of settling that had been compensated for and some slumping here and there. Another winter project was the educational wetland created behind the Salem elementary school in Sackville, NB. We have been back to assess and plan the final landscaping needs to have it ready for returning students in September.

ADVANCING 2014 FIELD DELIVERYIn New Brunswick, we are in the process of meeting with land-owners, conducting contour surveys and contacting contractors to deliver our 2014 wetland restoration program. We plan to put at least 155 acres of new wetlands on the ground this year. Projects are planned to span the province occurring in Wood-stock, Fredericton, Oromocto, Moncton, Sackville and north to Bathurst. In NS, we plan to deliver 35 acres of wetland restoration through the NS Wetland Conservation Policy. Projects are planned for the Annapolis Valley, Antigonish, and Judique.

EIDER NEST SHELTERS IN NLMultiple contracts have been developed wtih partners for the placement of 170 eider nest shelters: • White Bay Development Association for Hare Bay • (50 shelters)• Burgeo Ground Search and Rescue for Burgeo Islands • (45 shelters)• Eagle River Development Association for Table Bay • (55 shelters)• Potential Partnership with the Town of Carmanville to build

20 nest shelters

PROJECT WEBFOOT 100k CELEBRATEDIn New Brunswick we celebrated our 100,000th student to participate in Project Webfoot, DUC’s Grade 4 education program. We hosted an event to mark this occasion at the Tantramar Regional High School, one of our partners in the Wetland Centres of Excellence program and received favour-able coverage on Global TV. We also hosted a reception at the DU Conservation Centre in Fredericton, which was attended by local politicians, financial supporters, teachers and partners. (Click to view a clip from the news segment - Adobe Flash Player required. HERE.)

FUNDING FOR FISHWAYSWe were successful in the second round of submissions to the DFO Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnership Program, receiving full funding for two PEI projects and two Nova Scotia projects. Total funding of $170,000. NEW WETLAND CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE PLANNEDWe will use the funding from a recent bequest from the Estate of Donald Biddington to establish a Wetland Center of Excel-lence in the Saint John, NB area. In discussions with his family we learned that he had an interest in conservation, youth and in his home town of Saint Martin. Based on this, we were able to develop a project that meets the priority needs of DUC in Atlantic Canada with strong links to Mr. Biddington’s interest. The high school WCE in Saint John will be linked with the ele-mentary school in Saint Martin. We will also connect with one of our strongest supporters in Canada by utilizing the Little River DU Project at the Irving Oil Refinery as a wetland for the children to visit and use in their program learning.

RESEARCH AT BEAUBASSIN IN FULL SWINGWe have a full crowd at Beaubassin this summer from Acadia, UNB, Dalhousie, Bird Studies Canada working on a variety of projects. Fishway research, salt marsh restoration monitoring, research cell monitoring, a swallow project, etc. (some directly with DUC others just using the facility)

PARTNERSHIP STRENGTHENING AT THE GLICEfforts to bring funding and a stronger partnership at the Greenwing Legacy Interpretive Centre continue. Discussions with Minister Churchill and director Bob Petrie are positive. Meetings now organized with the Federal government- ACOA, to discuss re-investment in the centre.

EVENT NUMBERSEVENT Attendance VolunteersFredericton Committee 135 15Oromocto Committee 75 14Lars Larsen Memorial 180 13St-George Committee 70 7Gagetown Committee 160 14Goose Bay Banquet 93 10Deer Lake Banquet 70 10Notre Dame Shoot 28 3Marystown Banquet 79 12Valley Banquet 271 18Sackville and Area Banquet 57 8Strait-Richmond Du Banquet 56 19Prince County Banquet 102 14Amherst Spring Banquet 218 20

Total 1,594 177

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS• The Lars Larsen Memorial event was held on Saturday

May 3rd. It looks as though they will be the second New Brunswick Chapter to hit the President’s Grand Slam. The Chair has already been discussing ways to increase the revenue at next year’s event.

• The Marystown, NL chapter has taken on cooperative effort with a local school and DUC to construct nest boxes. This initative was featured on CBC TV Here and Now News (May 16) and the local paper Southern Gazette on May 20, 2014.

• We have formed a new chapter in Halifax and they have scheduled an event in September. We will have several volunteers added to this committee in the near future as meetings take place throughout the summer.

• DUC was honoured to be charity of choice at the Saint John Beer Fest, held on April 5th. This sold-out event was at-tended by over 400 community members, who got to visit the DUC display and talk to volunteers about our projects and our programming.

• The Corduroy Brook Enhancement Association is our new-est Project Webfoot delivery partner, and will be delivering this program in the Grand Falls-Windsor, NL area.

• Completion of the first phase of our Atlantic History project and co-op position. Interviews complete and info compiled.

Our 1st Quarter Highlights - con’t

hile listening to our local radio station, I heard that Ducks Unlimited Canada would be hosting a dinner & auction in our area. My husband Larry and I always have loved the

outdoors and nature, so we decided to attend. At the dinner, I realized this would be a rewarding organization to be involved with, so we signed up as volunteers! I often emailed Jamie Young, senior manager of events and volunteer relations for Atlantic Canada, wanting to know, “What else can we be doing?” So we then signed up to inspect wetland areas. It just felt like we could never do enough for such a wonderful organization. We later realized that some people don’t understand what DUC does. So, we decided to spread the word, get everyone involved and educate our community. Our first public outreach was to put a float in a parade on Canada Day to represent DUC and also the Bridgewater chapter.

It was a very warm 34 degree day, but we made it! Drake the DUC mascot even survived. We heard over and over as we walked the parade, “Oh wow, look! It’s Ducks Unlimited.” We placed 2nd in the parade, out of over 100 participants. And we even managed to sell a few dinner tickets that day, as we had posted on the trucks about the Dinner & Auction that will be taking place on October 18th.I treat this volunteer position I have with DUC like a paying job! If I am not on the road collecting for our upcoming auction, or attending information sessions throughout the communities, I am on the phone recruiting new volunteers, selling tickets, or making arrangements for the dinner. And I’m having the time of my life! In the back of each AtlanticConnections, we’ll be publishing stories written by you, our volunteers. These stories can be about anything from your most memorable moment volunteering to an exciting anecdote from your last dinner. We want to know about it.

Stories should be 300 to 350 words, and can be sent to du_amhest@ducks.ca.

Legends and believers: Why I volunteer for DUC KATHERINE HIRTLE, BRIDGEWATER DINNER COMMITTEE CHAIR

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NOVA SCOTIAPO Box 430, 64 Hwy 6Amherst, NS B4H 3Z5 (902) 667-8726 du_amherst@ducks.ca

NEW BRUNSWICK752 Union Street Fredericton, NB E3A 3P2 (506) 458-8848 du_fredericton@ducks.ca

PRINCE EDWARD ISLANDSuite 201, Farm Centre 420 University Avenue Charlottetown, PE C1A 7Z5(902) 569-4544 du_charlottetown@ducks.ca

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADORc/o CBPP Woodlands Department, PO Box 2001 Corner Brook NL A2H 6J4 (709) 637-3131 du_newfoundland@ducks.ca

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