The Fort Frances Chapter of Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) will be hosting its annual charity dinner and auction.
The event takes place on Friday May 5 at 5:30 p.m. at La Place Rendez-Vous.
2023 is the 85th anniversary of DUC. The organization works with local communities to preserve natural lands and in Ontario, “since 1974 (DUC) has preserved over one million acres of wetlands and adjacent habitat such as grassland, forest or other upland habitats,” their website says.
Nancy Stienburg is the president of the Fort Frances Chapter of DUC. She says they have a great event planned.
“We’ve got some awesome prizes coming in,” Stienburg said. “We’ve got some great sponsors from around town, Beyak Automotive Group, Badiuk’s, Norwest Animal Clinic have all sponsored so far this year. It’s Ducks Unlimited Canada’s 85th anniversary this year so it’s pretty big for them and there should be some pretty good prizes going out.”
Stienburg says the local DUC committee is in a bit of a rebuild right now with only one other person on the committee at the moment.
“A lot of our past members couldn’t participate this year,” She said. “So we’re trying to rebuild and hopefully get a little bit better of a committee established.”
Stienburg says anyone interested in environmental conservation should get involved.
“It’s conservation of wetlands, which is a very important thing, it helps with the duck population and wetlands in general are good for the environment,” She said. “Locally, Ducks was part of the funding for the Cranberry Peat Moss Interpretive Trail, so we do try to keep some of the money locally. If you’re a hunter, conservation of ducks is also a big deal, because if there’s no ducks there’s nothing to hunt.”
DUC does its work by purchasing land areas which are then considered conservation areas. The organization does support hunting as long as it’s done in a legal and sustainable fashion. According to DUC’s website: “Hunters are some of the most devoted conservationists. They spend a lot of time outdoors and appreciate how nature provides for their life and lifestyle. They support conservation through the purchase of their hunting licences and are often leaders in creating conservation policies and regulations.”
Stienburg is still looking for volunteers to help on the night of the fundraiser and will also be accepting donations of auction items up to the day before the event.
Tickets to the Fort Frances event are available now, for $70. They are available online at https://www.ducks.ca/how-to-help/events/ or at the Fort Frances Times office or by contacting Nancy Stienburg at 705-257-2090. For more information check out the “Ducks Unlimited Conservation Dinner and Charity Auction” event page on Facebook.
