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20 Kids - 20 Boxes
A Great "Waterfowler Day"
in Havre de Grace
May 2, 2009
Our current, hectic pace reflects a mix of interim season nest
monitoring, new box installations, public and private property
habitat inspections, youth and educational projects and data
compilation. Our May 4
activity report highlights our field operations as total project
sites for 2010 will now exceed 70 and functional capacity will be
above 1,700 boxes.
Most new projects are in the 3-15 box varieties although we are
analyzing historic records at the Bosley Conservancy in Harford County
to incorporate and conform these 75+/- boxes into our 2006-2008 data
base. This 400-acre fresh water site is situated along Otter Creek
in Edgewood, MD flowing into the Bush River and Chesapeake Bay. The
Harford Christian School has been conducting annual nest inspections
for several years and the program appears to be well established as
a fine example of what MWDI would consider a Total Wetlands
Experience!
We have drafted some additional “best practices” material which will
be loaded into the website shortly. The Power Point format needs
more amplification to clarify the recommended practices and improve
our ability to handle these inquiries more effectively and we’re
slowly making progress.
Before long, we expect to provide video clips
of ducklings hatching, jumping from nests and nest strife on the web
site and various internet links to longer video streams of these
activities. Eventually, each of these informational aspects will be
adapted into better teaching modules. We are trying to avoid
re-creating the wheel where others have already generated a great
deal of raw and semi-finished materials.
We appreciate the increasing number of inquiries to volunteer. It
does take some planning and logistical coordination to provide the
niche that works best as schedules evolve quickly and change just as
frequently.
It helps us immensely when a potential volunteer can
indicate their preferences such as the general time, day (weekday /
weekends only), and location preferences as well as the scope of
their desires - lumber cutting, youth mentoring, random, periodic or
recurring nest monitoring or field installation, whether you have a
Jon boat or even if you have no idea what might interest you. All
guidance is
very beneficial.
We have built volunteer notice lists for each region or function to
advise of opportunities as a supplement to the Events Calendar we
maintain on the web site. These communications are often more
“current” and precise than information on the Events Calendar for
pragmatic reasons. As we have developed more project site
management, local support networks are being formed and nest
monitoring is coordinated at times and dates I may not be aware of.
So, we are now referring our volunteers to these local networks and
adding them to the volunteer notice list, making it easier to
communicate for everyone.
We fully expect that most volunteers are not able to participate on
each outing and we are not offended in any way when this happens.
It’s the world we live in. Fortunately, our volunteer base continues
to grow and we usually only need 1-3 people for each “task”. ANY
time you invest with us, we are thrilled and thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Cliff Brown
Executive Director
Maryland Wood Duck Initiative
The Maryland Wood Duck Initiative is an all-volunteer wildlife
conservation effort started in late 2004. Our objectives are to
enhance Maryland’s wood duck population and to generate a greater
appreciation of the wetland habitats in which they live by
advocating and demonstrating the merits of a “best practices”
approach in managed nest programs.
Leveraging these focused efforts on the wood duck, we seek to
provide a
Total Wetlands Experience for our volunteers
and the “next generation” through the development of complementary
educational programs, internships and research projects. |
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