Chapter Stories
Heroes of Conservation: Rockville (Maryland) Chapter member Ron Kuipers was one of six national finalists for the 2011 Field & Stream Hero of Conservation award. This marks the second straight year that a League member has been one of the finalists for this prestigious national award. Ron was being recognized for leading efforts to restore the American chestnut by developing nurseries at the Rockville chapter and throughout Maryland. You can view videos highlighting Ron's work on the Field & Stream Web site.
Sowing
the Seeds of
Conservation: The
Des Moines Chapter (Iowa) is bringing
agriculture to the inner city as part of an
effort to increase community access to fresh,
healthy foods. Chapter members till community
gardens in low-income and urban neighborhoods.
They also create urban prairies to increase
garden production by attracting native
pollinators and to improve the health and
quality of local watersheds.
Youth Have a "Field Day": The Mountaineer Chapter (West Virginia) hosted another successful Youth Conservation Field Day in August. Thirty-four local youth turned out for a day filled with outdoor recreation and conservation education, including archery, shooting sports, animal tracking and identification, and water quality monitoring.
Outdoor Classroom: In April, the Warren County Chapter (Virginia) hosted an educational field trip for 70 fifth grade students from Rappahannock County Elementary School.
Reeling in River-Side Dumping: Members of the Mt. Airy and Rockville Chapters (Maryland) partnered to conduct the first in a series of Monocacy River watershed cleanups.
Junior
Ikes Program Educates Future Conservation
Leaders: The
Brown County Chapter (Wisconsin) launched a
youth conservation program to engage youth in
the outdoors to help them appreciate – and
want to protect – our natural resources.
Making “Tracks” To Engage Youth: The W.J. McCabe Chapter in Duluth (Minnesota) is making tracks at Lake Superior Zoo’s annual environmental education event.
A
Walk in the
Woods
Bethesda-Chevy
Chase Chapter (Maryland) members
hosted 160 high school students for an
"Interpretive Walk in the Woods." Through
programs like this, League members are
educating the next generation of
conservationists.
Mentoring
in Minnesota
The W.J.
McCabe Chapter (Minnesota) partnered
with the Duluth Retriever Club for a weekend
focused on youth and youth
mentoring.
It
Takes a Team To Clean
Up a Stream
The
Arlington-Fairfax Chapter
(Virginia) is leveraging local needs
and interests that intersect with the chapter's
conservation mission to increase manpower for
cleanup and restoration projects.
A Community Meets Izaak
Walton
A
Field of Greens
The
Austin Chapter #10 (Minnesota)
is revitalizing the Cedar River . . . one rain
garden at a time. What started as a field of
non-native grass blossomed into a rain garden
of prairie flowers and grasses that returned
native habitat to Mill Pond.
Scouting
for a Shot
At
Frederick Chapter #1
(Maryland), League members combined
Scouting, service, and shooting sports for a
memorable outdoor fall weekend.
Youth
Have a Field Day
The
Oil City Chapter
(Pennsylvania) hosted almost 200
children ages 8-18 at the Venango County Youth
Field Day, where youth participated in archery,
fly tying, fishing, canoeing, wild turkey
mock hunting, a fun run, shooting
shotguns, and shooting .22 and black powder
rifles.
Environmental
Education . . . for
Teachers!
One critical
aspect to educating children about conservation
and natural resources is making sure their
teachers have that education first. The
Suffolk-Nansemond Chapter
(Virginia) partnered with a local
community college to do just that.
Building
Skills and Friendships in a Summer Youth Trap
League
When state and
national youth competitions finish up in the
spring, youth are still eager to get outdoors
to shoot. The Lincoln Chapter
(Nebraska) came up with a way to keep
youth engaged in their favorite sport and boost
youth and family interest in the League.
Earth
Day 2010
Ikes across
the country celebrated the 40th anniversary of
Earth Day in April. The celebration at the
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chapter
(Maryland) included chapter
members, community guests, and distinguished
representatives from local government.
How
Much of This Trash Is
Yours?
The
Wildlife Achievement Chapter
(Maryland) has been engaged in a
decades-long conservation effort in the Upper
Patuxent River watershed. Chapter members also
take out the trash as part of Montgomery
County’s Adopt-A-Road program.
Ikes
Join Forces for Missouri River
Clean-UpThe League helped
organize three major cleanups on the
Missouri River this summer.
Ikes turned out for all of them — and hauled
in an impressive array of trash!
Ikes’
Lasting
Legacy
Fullerton
Chapter (California)
past president Bob Green came to a
meeting of the League’s California Division 5
years ago with a proposal: Rebuild the
amphitheater at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary.
Into
the Woods
Under an
April early morning sun, a large band of
Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Maryland) Chapter
members fanned out across one of the
fields on the chapter’s 523-acre property. By
that evening, they had planted more than 1,000
young trees. This effort was just the start of
a long-term stewardship plan for the
chapter’s Poolesville Farm property.
Iowa
Outdoor Expo for Kids and
FamiliesSponsored by the
Des Moines Chapter (Iowa),
this free educational event is designed to
strengthen connections to wildlife and wild
lands by providing learning and participation
opportunities that communicate the importance
of wildlife and habitat management, teach
outdoor skills, encourage outdoor ethical
behavior and stewardship, and perpetuate
Iowa’s hunting, fishing, and wildlife
heritage.
Mountaineers
Host Youth Field
Day
With 1,100 acres
of rolling mountain land, the
Mountaineer Chapter
(West Virginia) is ideally
situated for a day introducing youth to the
great outdoors.
Not
Your Average
Joe's
Iowa:
Joe Gavin, past president of the Des
Moines Chapter, and Joe Beeman, Ames Chapter
member, received the Sportsman of the Year
award from the Des Moines Chapter of the Izaak
Walton League of America and WHO Radio. The
statewide award recognizes commitment to
natural resources and the environment. These
two Ikes are certainly not your average
Joe’s!
Outdoor
Fun In Any
Weather
When you live
in Michigan, the cold winters leave you with
two options: Hide inside until spring, or
bundle up and get outdoors to take advantage of
the many opportunities for recreation the snow
and ice offer. The Dwight Lydell
Chapter (Michigan) helped their
neighbors do the latter through the chapter’s
annual Winterfest.
Open
Season For All
With dedicated
volunteers – and a little creative
engineering – the Wayne County
Chapter (Ohio) helps
make mobility-impaired deer hunters’ dreams
come true.
Youth
Conservation Center Brings Community
Together
The
Sunshine Chapter’s new
Youth Conservation Center has been a community
construction project that will benefit the
whole community. The center will open its doors
to outside conservation groups and serve the
immediate community to promote the outdoors in
South Dakota.