Illinois Outdoor News and Illinois Ducks Unlimited Team Up for 24th Annual Wood Duck Challenge

Illinois Outdoor News, publisher of the locally written fishing and hunting outdoor newspaper for Illinois sportsmen, has partnered with the Illinois Chapter of Ducks Unlimited for the 2014 Outdoor News Wood Duck Challenge.

The Wood Duck Challenge, which began in 1990, is an Outdoor News Inc. institution geared towards encouraging youth under the age of 18 to construct and install a Wood Duck nesting box according to an approved plan. Participating youth submit a photo of themselves with the finished box, which is published in the pages of Ohio Outdoor News, as well as receiving a variety of items including a commemorative patch, decals and a Greenwing membership through Illinois Ducks Unlimited.

Jim King, the central Illinois senior regional director for Ducks Unlimited was enthusiastic about the partnership. “Illinois Ducks Unlimited is the leader in providing quality habitat for waterfowl, and connecting youth to this mission is a natural extension of what we do.” he stated. “With a membership of over 27,000, Illinois Ducks Unlimited is at the forefront providing high quality wetland habitat for ducks as they migrate down the Mississippi  Flyway.” said King.

Prior year participants in the Wood Duck Challenge have included individual youth, as well as Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups, 4-H Clubs and school classes.  OWA’s continued support joins Gander Mountain, the Wood Duck Society and other conservation groups in promoting this nesting box project. For more information on the Wood Duck Challenge visit www.outdoornews.com/Wood-Duck-Challenge/

Information on the habitat enhancement efforts of Illinois Ducks Unlimited can be found at www.ducks.org/illinois

Ducks Unlimited

Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation. DU got its start in 1937 during the Dust Bowl when North America’s drought-plagued waterfowl populations had plunged to unprecedented lows. Determined not to sit idly by as the continent’s waterfowl dwindled beyond recovery, a small group of sportsmen joined together to form an organization that became known as Ducks Unlimited. Its mission: habitat conservation. Thanks to decades of abiding by that single mission, Ducks Unlimited is now the world’s largest and most effective private waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization. DU is able to multilaterally deliver its work through a series of partnerships with private individuals, landowners, agencies, scientific communities and other entities.