UWF - 2011 Waterfowl Summit Speaker List

Dear Friends-

UWF (United Waterfowlers of Florida) has been a real advocate for clean water, restoring the aquifers and restoring wetlands. The President, John Hitchcock, sends out a great newsletter to which I subscribe because I love to keep up with his conservation efforts. We differ mainly in that, the only thing I will shoot a duck with is my camera.

In reading this newsletter I thought, wow, that’s a great bunch of speakers he has for their summer conference. Further on down he says, “Last year about half of those that attended were from state and federal agencies. It's a chance for them to meet and greet each of us and each other. Plenty of networking time is being designed into the day to maximize interaction of all those in attendance.” Isn’t that wonderful? I’ll bet these state employees got paid to go too. I wish we could plan a similar conference on Rehabilitating the Impoverished Lakes in Florida.

Waterfowl Summit - Speaker Line-up
• Steve Rockwood (FWC) Waterfowl Food Web/AHRES 2011-12 Waterfowl Projects
• Dr. Scott Yaich (Ducks Unlimited) Clean Water Act for Wetlands Protection
• Craig Mallison (FWC) Habitat Monitoring and Assessment for Large Wetland Systems
• Bill Caton (FWC) Overview of Invasive Plant Management in Florida
• Jim Sweatman (FWC) Use of GeoTube to Reestabish Submerged Aquatic Vegetation
• Dr. Gian Basili (SJRWMD) Active Management for Wetlands and Upland Buffers
• Dr. Fred Sklar (SFWMD) The DECOMP Project: The "Heart" of Everglades Restoration
• John Marshall (Arthur R. Marshall Foundation) Everglades Restoration
• Dr. Erich Marzolf (SJRWMD) Nutrient Pollution in Surface and Ground Water

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not dissing the UWF or John. They are doing a great job…..It’s obvious, no water, no water fowl. I’ll vouch for that, there’s not ducks behind my house anymore. I’m just wondering, if we put some conference together if these same people would be paid to come to our meeting, or would want to? Perhaps it is time to expand our alliance to connect with other alliances that are concerned with fresh water lakes and streams.

Jackie