The 82nd annual gathering was held May 28-June 1, 2019, in Hawaii.
WAIKOLOA VILLAGE, Hawaii – -(AmmoLand.com)- Ducks Unlimited held its 82nd annual national convention May 29-June 1, 2019, at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Waikoloa, Hawaii. The event drew more than 900 volunteers as well as conservation leaders and partners from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Ducks Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Ducks Unlimited de Mexico and Wetlands America Trust representatives led Saturday’s celebration of the successful completion of DU’s ambitious “Rescue Our Wetlands: Banding Together for Waterfowl” campaign.
The $2 billion continental campaign was launched seven years ago and will go down as one of the most extensive conservation campaigns in history.
Ducks Unlimited President Rogers Hoyt announced the campaign, which closed in December 2018, vastly exceeded the $2 billion goals, raising an astonishing $2.34 billion and conserving 2,236,435 acres of habitat for waterfowl, other wildlife, people and the communities in which they live.
In his address to the DU volunteers, members, donors, and supporters gathered on the Big Island, DU Major Donor and Wetlands America Trust trustee James Cox Kennedy, chairman of Cox Enterprises, said the conservation work is not over.
“I grew up in Hawaii and there’s a Hawaiian word for family – ohana,” Kennedy said. “Ducks Unlimited is an ohana. We are passionate about ducks. Our ohana should celebrate our success, but there is so much work to be done. I will do everything I can as long as I
