Yorkton Ducks Unlimited (DU) hosted its major local fundraiser, the annual DU banquet, at the Gallagher Centre Flexi-hall last week. Yorkton DU chairman, Ron Skinner, says the 30th anniversary banquet is the premiere event for the Yorkton DU organization. "It's given us pause to reflect on the 30 year history of the organization in Yorkton," Skinner says.
Within a 100 kilometre radius of the City of Yorkton there have been 960 DU water conservation projects conducted, securing 211,234 acres of habitat. Total money invested in the area to date is $28,948,571. The Yorkton DU Committee has raised, to the end of 2010, $903,684 of that total, Skinner reports. "We've been the beneficiaries of the Ducks Unlimited organization as a place to invest their money in the wetlands of Saskatchewan and in the Yorkton area in particular to provide the habitat for the ducks and the geese and mother nature generally," he continues.
DU projects are aimed at both conservation and sport," Skinner suggests. "There are still a lot of people involved in the sport. Like any other sport it has its highs and lows but I think there are few more people now hunting water fowl than there have been in the past," he claims. Hunters include many Americans who come into the York-ton area and west of Yorkton to hunt ducks, geese and other types of birds, Skinner adds.
In many cases DU creates long term agreements with area farmers for management of some parcels of their land. "We contribute to the farmer for that," he notes.
There are programs for winter wheat and other programs, Skinner reports.
One of the biggest projects ever done in the area is the DU Southern Complex just south of Yorkton, Skinner points out. The project takes in the York Lake area and a whole large wetland which runs toward Willowbrook through the Leech Lakes which has provided a huge amount of habitat for waterfowl.
One of the more recent projects located right behind the DU office on Highway 16 beside the Western Development Museum, is a marsh area which was becoming congested as water was no longer flowing into it. The habitat was essentially being lost, Skinner claims. In 2009-10 Yorkton DU recreated the marsh. "We went in there with our equipment and contractors and they piled up the bottom of it, creating some land islands, created a habitat again," he reports. The area has a boardwalk for people to walk into the marsh. Anyone who like to do so can contact the local DU office who will conducts school and group tours through the marsh, Skinner offers. "Last year we had a couple of canoes for people to go and actually paddle into the marsh to look at the habitat itself and the wildlife that lives in it. It's pretty amazing," he adds.
The money that DU spends gets reinvested into the community three and four times over, Skinner notes. It's a benefit not only to Yorkton but to the whole region. "We're looking, as a committee to change and improve things for the ducks because that's what we're about, the conservation effort," he sums up.
The Yorkton DU committee would like to see more people involved. The committee stages three or four events a year, including a ladies' event this summer and a golf tournament in September in addition to the annual banquet. Anyone interested in signing on should contact the Yorkton DU office at 782-2108, call Ron Skinner at 783-8221 or 621-7700 or Larry Haas at 783-8166. "If anyone has questions or would like to be a contributor or sponsor, just contact us and we can explain everything to you and show you what we're doing," Skinner closes.
