Conservation Grants

Waterfowl Festival
2007 Conservation Grants

The organizations benefiting from these grants serve important roles in the preservation of our wildlife habitat resources and the education of our next generation of environmental leaders. The Waterfowl Festival is proud to continue to play a significant part in such efforts through these grants. The Festival's Appropriations Committee carefully considers where proceeds from the event and our Donor Program can be used most effectively, allowing your contributions to be combined with others to make a bigger impact with the programs receiving the funds. With the $184,000 awarded this year, the Waterfowl Festival has provided over $4.8 million in funding to more than 50 organizations since the event's beginning in 1971.

Adkins Arboretum
Ridgely, Maryland
Environmental Studies Internship Program - $3,000

Adkins Arboretum has a unique focus on protecting and encouraging the propagation of botanical species native to the Eastern Shore. Funding for the Internship Program will provide educational opportunities for college interns to further their knowledge of native plant conservation, restoration and wildlife habitat protection.

Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage
Easton, Maryland
Conservation Programs - $47,000

Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage works in partnership with public and private landowners to create, restore and protect wildlife habitat and establish a more sustainable agriculture. Three CWH programs continue to receive Festival support.

• The Wood Duck Nesting Box Program replaces depleted or destroyed natural nesting habitat with manmade nesting boxes. It is estimated that 25,000 ducks were added to the fall flight thanks to the success of this program.
• Through its Chesapeake Care Program, CWH develops partnerships with private landowners restore wildlife habitats. The organization has restored more than 1,000 acres of wetlands in the last seven years.
• The Waterfowl Festival Goose Sanctuary Program provides safe resting havens and food resources for overwintering Canada geese with about 85 acres of standing corn and more than 400 acres of winter wheat for grazing.

Ducks Unlimited
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Habitat Stewardship Program on Delmarva Peninsula - $29,000

This national organization has founded several major conservation initiatives dedicated to conserving habitat in critical waterfowl breeding, migrating and wintering areas. Through the Habitat Stewardship Program, landowners throughout the Delmarva Peninsula receive technical and financial assistance, along with long-term management and project monitoring. With the help of this Festival grant, 100 acres of wetlands and associated upland buffers will be restored. In addition, the Waterfowl Festival will help to fund work on two significant Ducks Unlimited special projects this year:

Eastern Neck Project - $35,000

The Waterfowl Festival partnership with Ducks Unlimited on this project at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refugewill restore 25 acres, including wetlands, food plots and grass buffers, providing critical freshwater habitat acreage for ducks and geese.

Wells Point Project - $29,000

Sixty three acres of wetlands, forested and grass buffers, and wildlife food plots will be restored at the Jean Ellen DuPont Shehan Audubon Sanctuary. Not only will this provide new wildlife habitat, but it will also serve as a demonstration project to showcase the benefits of partnerships and the importance of wetland preservation to the Chesapeake Bay.

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
Queenstown, Maryland
Stewardship Initiative - $7,500

The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy has preserved 208 properties on more than 39,000 acres with the help of continued support from the Waterfowl Festival. The organization works with landowners to protect the most critical farm and habitat properties through conservation easements, sound land-use planning and other tools.

Environmental Concern
Easton, Maryland
Wetlands on Wheels - $7,500

Environmental Concern's mobile classroom takes the wetland to the students and general public, building understanding of the importance and stewardship of wetlands. Hands-on lessons at 25 learning stations within the Wetlands on Wheels trailer offer a wide variety of fun educational opportunities for kids of all ages.

Fair Hill Environmental Center
Elkton, Maryland
"Who's for Dinner" Environmental Science Program - $4,000

Fair Hill Environmental Center serves a tri-state area with outdoor school programs for elementary and middle school students. A Waterfowl Festival grant helps support the organization's "Who's for Dinner" program, introducing students to the food chains found in a freshwater wetland and stream. Since its inception, nearly 8000 students have participated in the program, which emphasizes the interrelationships of plants and animals and the unique importance of wetlands. During the 2006-2007 school year, 1200 Cecil County fifth-grade students will be offered this opportunity to increase their understanding of wetlands and their own role in preserving them.

Pickering Creek Audubon Center
Easton, Maryland
Audubon Watershed Experience - $18,000

Emphasizing a community-based approach to conservation and habitat protection, Pickering Creek Audubon Center has provided high-quality science education to Talbot County students for over two decades, instilling an appreciation and understanding of our watershed and wildlife resources. Its Audubon Watershed Experience engages all of the county's tenth-grade biology students in a four-part program including in-class and field experience, helping to create the next generation of conservationists. Teaching the fundamentals of birdwatching and fishing in conjunction with science education curriculum, students are exposed to a spectrum of ecological principals in activities they can take home and share with friends and family. A mentoring component allows the students to transfer their new skills and knowledge to a younger class, creating more active student involvement and an opportunity to further expand the reach of the program.

Talbot County Public Schools
Talbot County, Maryland
Echo Hill Outdoor School - $4,000

Fifth-grade Talbot County students gain field experience for their science unit on Estuaries thanks to this two-part Waterfowl Festival grant, helping them recognize the importance of this ecosystem. At Echo Hill Outdoor School in Worton, 180 students are immersed in the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay for three days and two nights, with professionally trained staff providing instruction. Funding also provides transportation for students to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Skipjack Program. Giving students an unforgettable on-the-water experience, the program familiarizes students with estuaries and their critical role as habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife.