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Washington Waterfowl Association

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WWA:
The Washington Waterfowl Association (WWA) was founded in 1945 as the “Washington Duck Hunters Incorporated”.  The founders were convinced that, “Only through the united efforts of its members would the voice of the waterfowler be heard”.  The organization’s goals were: 1. To conserve our waterfowl and preserve and improve our hunting opportunities, and 2. to secure more hunting areas from state and federal agencies.  The founders’ declared that these two goals “will be our constant aim and effort”.

            The first newsletter of the newly formed Washington Duck Hunters, Inc. stated that the organization had one objective, “To do everything possible to provide more and better duck and goose hunting for hunters of the Northwest”.  This newsletter also pledged that the organization would, “Keep in touch with activities of both the State Game Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and try to protect our rights as hunters”.  The newsletter noted that, “We are the only group in the state devoting all its efforts to obtaining better waterfowl shooting”.  Additionally added was the statement, “We are exerting every effort to establish duck refuges in Washington, and wherever possible, to have public shooting grounds in conjunction therewith”.

            This newsletter declared, even in 1945, that more resting and feeding areas were needed to hold birds in our state and to aid them during migration.  The newsletter ended with the plea to Washington waterfowl hunters that, “The organization needs you as much as you need them.  They’re your ducks and it’s your duck hunting, protect them both!”.

With nearly 70 years of volunteerism to its credit, Washington Waterfowl Association, (WWA) is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt, non-profit corporation dedicated to waterfowl conservation, habitat improvement, and hunting within the State of Washington.  With chapters across the state, we focus on putting your ideas and your donations into action, in your area.

We are a hands-on organization whose members "put their money (and backs) where their mouths are" literally donating thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours every year to support waterfowl and waterfowl hunters, including assisting the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) in habitat enhancement projects throughout the state. All of our projects have been on public lands to ensure that our efforts in habitat enhancement benefit all hunters and citizens of the state.

Our current approach to conservation focuses on these 5 pillars:

Habitat - Improve waterfowl habitat through various activities such as providing nesting, planting forage, cleaning garbage, and more.  The WWA partners with the WDFW and with other conservation organizations to identify the needs of the birds and where our public waterfowl habitat can be best improved.

Access- Volunteer our time and money to improve public access on public lands.  Building blinds, cleared brush, and worked with local and state agencies to push to have projects of waterfowling access prioritized.

Education - Provide education for kids and adults through our mentorship program and mentored hunts.  Publish useful information pertinent to the waterfowl world in our newsletter.  Local chapters get speakers and provide programs to educate our members on a wide variety of topics.

Advocacy - Act as the voice of the Washington waterfowler.  Fight for public lands and hunters rights across the state.  From submitting positions in public comment, to attending local government forums, to sitting on state advisory groups.  The WWA works on the local, state, and federal levels to ensure that waterfowl and waterfowlers are represented.

Community - Create an inclusive environment where people of similar interest can interact together.  There are WWA events regularly all over the state of Washington.  Members make life-long friends in our organization.  The WWA is an entirely volunteer organization and many members will attest, you get out what you put in.



A few facts about WWA:

Established in 1945
Non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization
Eleven established chapters throughout Washington
All resources applied within Washington
Working with WDFW & USFWS
Presence on the WDFW Waterfowl Advisory Group
Members of Washingtonians for Wildlife Conservation (WWC) who have a vote in the Hunters Heritage Council (HHC)  on the implementation of statewide outdoor sporting initiatives
Our projects include nest box construction, litter pickup projects, nest counts, Eagle Scout and other youth group programs, monthly chapter meetings, working at federal refuges and state wildlife areas, participation in sportsman's shows, youth gun safety and hunter education classes, hosting shooting events, building blinds (including access for disable persons), working with local Tribes, and planting of food plots for waterfowl, to name a few!  And when our hunting heritage is threatened, WWA has stepped to the plate with strong political action, in addition to tailoring legislation and game laws for the benefit of waterfowl and waterfowl hunters.

We don't "contract out" our efforts, our members and their families roll up their sleeves and work together as a team to complete our projects.  We have a real sense of community and fellowship as we donate our time to enhance habitat and promote our favorite pastime, waterfowling!

WWA:
Sportsmen that want to make the local areas they hunt have a home in the WWA. We strive to put our time and money into the areas near where we hunt. We are blessed with public land in this state and it is our goal to make a difference where we live and hunt. Here are some recent examples of projects and work parties  we have done.

Southwest Chapter News By: Bruce Burns
Youth Duck Calling Contest Thanks for the yeoman efforts of WWA‐SW Chapter member, Nathan Neideigh — who has been honing his organizational skills the past several years putting on the WA State Sanctioned Duck and Goose Calling Championships for the WWA — gathered up the trophies and prize donations (including duck calls for ALL contestants from Pacific Calls); and then judged the contest!  He also arranged for the generous FREE lunch and FREE Sporting Clays for all Youth wanting to participate in either, courtesy of the hosts, Tara Stevens, and the Winners of the First Ever WWA Youth Calling Contest, (from L) 1st, Carson Fenton; 2nd, Hunter Anderson; and 3rd, Slade Heinricher! Sumner Sportsmen’s Club linked here.
 
Sixteen (16) young people and many parents turned out at 8:00 am on a wet and drizzly Saturday, which later turned into a nice, crisp, sunny day for some 5‐stand shotgun shooting!
Many thanks to the following SW Chapter members who help Nathan put on this event, including his children, Aiden and Hanna Neideigh; also Southwest members Peter Kilburn, Jim Payne and Bruce Burns. Thanks also to the WWA Corporate presence of President James Ono and Treasurer John Arrabito for their support.

Moses Lake Chapter News
 From: Dick Price and Bruce Feagan
Quincy Wildlife Management Area (WMA)  For those of you that hunt this area and in particular Flat Lake I have some good news! Flat Lake is a seep lake that fills when they turn the
irrigation water into the main canal adjacent to the lake. It fills and becomes a very popular nesting and brood rearing lake for Waterfowl.  In 2019 I was contacted by the person that owned two (2) parcels of private land/water around and into Flat Lake. Like me he was getting on in years and had always let his properties open for public hunting and was interested in making sure they stayed that way when he passed.  I did some investigation and made a proposal to the WDFW Region 2 folks that they should try and purchase the two (2) parcels. They put together a proposal to purchase the parcels using Migratory Bird Stamp & Print funds in the 2022‐2023 budget. The proposal ended up being the No. 1 Capital Project for Stamp & Print funds.
 I got a call last week from the owner thanking me for my efforts, and informing me the WDFW properties people had been to the site and were authorizing the purchase to go forward. He said they expect the purchase to be complete by the end of August.  This shows what can happen if we work together with a willing landowner — that only wanted a fair price to keep an area open for public hunting — and we work with the right WDFW employees to help do the research to make it happen.

Installation of ADA Blind at Drumheller Access On Friday, April 8th, WWA‐ML Chapter members Bruce Feagan, Marvin Leyda, Tom O’Dell, Ken Shields and Todd Teeters along with NW Chapter member, Paul McGovern, joined WDFW staff Chatten McPherson and Ryan Walker to assemble an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) blind at the Drumheller Access of Rocky Ford Creek at the north end of Moses Lake. Many thanks to all for your Time and efforts!

WWA:
Northwest Chapter News
By: Rick Billieu
 During the month of March, members of the NW Chapter have been performing maintenance on some of the many Wood Duck Nest Boxes deployed in the region. The locations range from local lakes, sloughs, private ponds, state and county wetlands.  Some of the box locations have proven to be successful each year, while others have had limited success. The less successful locations require us to redeploy the boxes to the more successful locations or to new locations. With wood products including cedar at a premium, the chapter didn’t construct new boxes this year. If you have a lead on materials let us know.  Thanks to our volunteer members for the time they put forth for this conservation effort. If you would like to
volunteer for these activities please contact me.

Smith Island Cleanup Results
The Washington Waterfowl Association held its first Smith Island clean up on Saturday, March 26th. Members from several chapters converged on the area by boat, kayak and foot. We found everything from TV’s to microwaves, large pieces of foam, abandoned tires, camper and car parts, and plenty more garbage. Rob Wingard WFDW Private Lands Biologist was on
hand with a large dump trailer to hall the trash away. A kayak launch at the south end of the area is one of the many private lands sites in the region.  There were over 15 volunteers that made a positive impact on the area. It’s a better place due to their efforts. This cleanup will be an annual event. Special Thanks to Tom Elliott for organizing the event and a BIG THANK YOU to all the volunteers that participated.

WWA:
Lower Columbia Chapter News
By: Doug Hargin
March 19th Shillapoo Work Party Report  We had a small group gathering on March 19th to refurbish wood duck nest boxes on what began as a rainy Saturday morning. We met up at the parking area off La Frambois Road, where Region 5 Wildlife Area Manger Daren Hauswald and Assistant Manager Zack Breitenstein led the group of duck enthusiasts in the endeavor.
 We were able to check all the boxes in that area and get them refurbished. Several of the boxes on steel poles were pushed over in an apparent act of vandalism. We found lots of eggs but low hatch counts. We may need to add an additional predator barrier cones on the poles.

Member Bob Taylor helped out and had already refurbished a good number boxes in South Shillapoo earlier in the week. Thanks to Bob, Bill Dose, Michael Andreoƫ, Jack Whitney and Doug Hargin for their help.

March Chapter Meeting
Colin Swanson, the District Issue Director for US Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler’s Office, spoke at our March meeting. He was there to receive input and suggestions to increase and improve hunting opportunities with federal dollars available for the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The issues discussed were increasing the blinds available to hunt and safer access to several blinds that are challenging to get to. We discussed the possibility of crops being reintroduced to the hunt area. The current model is natural sustainable plants and grazed/mowed pasture. Finally, the always obvious issue — finding federal dollars to fund any of these items.  Thanks to Rick Scott for putting together an outstanding gourmet roasted chicken salad buffet for the chapter meeting!

Other Ridgefield NWR News
 Shut down and clean up of hunting blinds at Ridgefield — tentatively scheduled for an April 23rd work party have been bumped considerably down the calendar. In a recent update from Ridgefield NWR Manager Juliette Fernandez, we were informed that Cranes are nesting on the Kiowa Trail so we can’t disturb them until late summer at the earliest. Any further update will be sent by a bulk email to our chapter membership. Other future work parties at Ridgefield include prep work and installation of the Black Box composite Pit Blinds including retro‐fitting them with stairs and dog boxes. Stay tuned!

WWA:
Hunter education, recruitment and Conservation projects are important to the WWA. One thing sets us apart from Just a conservation group is our advocacy. We have members on the Waterfowl Advisory Group as well as numerous working groups. We are the watchdogs for the public lands we have access to hunt.  Through our advocacy and collaboration with Washingtonians for Wildlife Conservation we were able to prevent the Shillapoo Wildlife area near Vancouver from becoming a wetlands bank for the Bonneville Power administration. We were also successful in fighting off the Drayton Harbor shooting  shooting ban near Blaine. We were successful in large part by reaching out to the Lummi and Swinomish Tribes. Sportsmen need to  reach out and build bridges, even with those that we might not see eye to eye on every issue.

It is important that waterfowlers build relationships with the area managers. We won't always get what we want when change happens. It is important for us to fight the good fight, and to mitigate as much down side as possible when problems arise.

Join us in the off season, get involved, make some hunting friends, do some good works all while expanding you knowledge of the area you hunt!

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