BY CRAIG WENZEL

The Wessington Springs chapter of Ducks Unlimited was given the Bronze Presidential Citation Award recently.

Area DU chairman Tom Mebius said this is a special award for the chapter. “Only 180 chapters in the nation received the award this year…. and there are close to 10,000 chapters in the United States.” There were six other DU chapters in South Dakota that received the award.

The local DU chapter’s big event of the year is the annual dinner/banquet, which will be held here on October 24.

Among the programs supported by the local chapter would be fund raising for water quality programs and duck nesting habitat. “There was $1.7 million spent by Ducks Unlimited in South Dakota last year,” Mebius said.

A letter of recognition was sent to Mebius and the local DU chapter from Ducks Unlimited national president Bruce Lewis. “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate your chapter for earning the Bronze Presidential Citation Award,” he said. “The Presidential Citation program began in 2005. It is part of the criteria for the Comprehensive State Awards presented at the National Convention each year.”

To be considered for recognition in this program your chapter had a minimum of $5,000 Grassroots Income and 50 adult members for 2008. In addition your chapter met the following criteria: an increase in Grassroots Chapter Income over prior year of 5%; an increase in adult members over prior year of 5%; a net/net to gross on the main event of 60%; event tickets were received within 10 days of the event; and the financial sheet and balance of proceeds were received within 30 days of event.