Local Ducks Unlimited chapter continues decades of conservation

MARINETTE – Wayne Gerondale is more than just one of 35,000 Wisconsin Ducks Unlimited members, he has been a driving force behind decades of conservation efforts in Marinette County and beyond.

Gerondale joined Ducks Unlimited, a national nonprofit organization, in 1979 and has served as the chairman of the Marinette chapter for over 40 years.

The core mission of the organization is to “conserve, restore and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America’s waterfowl,” according to their website. This has taken many different forms across the country, such as supporting wintering waterfowl in California and conserving habitats around the Great Lakes.

Ducks Unlimited began in 1937 during the Dust Bowl which devastated wetlands and caused waterfowl populations to drop to extremely low levels.

Since then, the organization has expanded to own 439,000 acres through protection trusts, conserve 19 million acres of wetlands and support dozens of other species.

Gerondale has participated in a variety of habitat enhancement and conservation projects with chapters along the bay, including “spraying phragmites along the Peshtigo Harbor reserve, planting wild rice in Townsend and promoting duck banding.”

By treating invasive species of phragmites and encouraging the growth of native species, the Ducks Unlimited group can create healthy habitats. This then allows them to place tracker bands on ducks and see how species health improves.

The group also built a barrier wall to lower the amount of carp, another invasive species, from entering local waterways.

Further south along the bay, the Marinette chapter has collaborated with other groups.

Gerondale explained that long-term and wide-spread conservation takes teamwork, “We work with all of the Ducks Unlimited groups down the bay. We work with the [Department of Natural Resources], the Kiwanis club and helped Trout Unlimited get started up. We kind of split the work up, make it county wide. We try to share the wealth.”

In order to keep these projects going, securing funding is an important task.
Statewide, Ducks Unlimited raised $3,992,112 in grassroots funding. The Marinette chapter has contributed $270,000 to the overall funding over the decades as well.

Most of these local contributions come from the chapter’s annual dinner banquet. Although attendance has decreased from the 200 guests that used to come out, Gerondale is looking forward to the event and hopes to see new faces and younger participants.

“My son, Paul, he’s taking over as chairman. He’s the youngest member, as he’s 60-years-old,” Gerondale said.

The 44th Annual Marinette Chapter Ducks Unlimited Dinner will be held at the Little River Country Club on Wednesday, Sept. 17. The doors will open at 5 p.m. and dinner will be served at 7 p.m.

“We have a family-style dinner at Little River, really, it’s one of the better dinners I’ve been to. Little River is one of the event sponsors and they give away some golf outings. We have somewhere around 40 prizes,” Gerondale explained. There will also be cash and gun raffles as well as auctions for wildlife art prints.

Tickets for the dinner and membership to the club begin at $60 per person, with additional packages available for sponsors. A variety of raffle ticket options are also available for purchase before the event.

The funds raised from this event go directly into waterfowl and habitat conservation. During one well-attended dinner, the chapter brought in $52,000.

“I’ve been at this a long time and it’s been really good, but it’s starting to get smaller. I don’t know if it’s the economy or what it is, but hopefully we can get some more people to come,” Gerondale said.

For more information on Ducks Unlimited or to register for the event, visit www.widucks.org or call Wayne Gerondale at (715) 732-0676.