"The mission of Waterfowl Chesapeake is to create, restore and conserve waterfowl habitat throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed and nearby coastal bays by engaging in collaborative strategic initiatives with organizations, governments, corporations, foundations, and individuals," Ronald Flohr, president of the Waterfowl Festival board and a Waterfowl Chesapeake board member said at a reception held at Bay Street Ponds recently for over 100 people. The launch of the organization came after 18 months of work by a strategic planning committee given the task of taking the Waterfowl Festival to new heights.

"We came to understand that, if the Waterfowl Festival was truly to achieve its founding mission, it would have to reinvent itself," Philip Webster, a member of the strategic planning committee, said. Webster believes Waterfowl Chesapeake will be a leader in waterfowl conservation.

"We will continue to have a world class weekend festival every November," he said, "but day in and day out, I envision educational and environmental programs that will impact tens of thousands of individuals, many nonprofits, and thousands of acres of waterfowl habitat on the eastern and western shores of Maryland and the Delaware Bay."

An example of Waterfowl Festival conservation efforts can be seen along Bay Street in Easton. In 2008, the Grayce B. Kerr Fund donated the property

Bay Street Ponds, Easton, Maryland

to Waterfowl Festival, Inc., which used $37,000 of its own funds as a partial match to secure a $332,000 grant through the Maryland Department of the Environment's Water Quality Financing Administration to restore the ponds. Flohr explained that the ponds serve as a collection area and sediment trap for the Tanyard Branch creek, draining 723 acres of watershed in the town limits and emptying into the Tred Avon River. The ponds are surrounded by various native flowers, donated by Environmental Concern, creating a colorful location in the heart of Easton.

We hope Waterfowl Chesapeake will re-energize the conservation mission of the Festival, and remind visitors of what the event is all about," Flohr said. "The traditional elements of the festival will remain, and there will be some new additions this fall that will highlight the conservation mission of both organizations.

Joining Flohr as Waterfowl Chesapeake Board members are David O'Neill, director of Eastern Partnership Office of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; Jennifer Stanley, president of the Town Creek Foundation; Peter Stifel, University of Maryland Geology Professor; Albert Pritchett and Tracie Thomas, Waterfowl Festival board members.

Waterfowl Chesapeake Board members, left to right: Tracie Thomas, Albert Pritchett, Ron Flohr, David O'Neill and Jennifer Stanley. Peter Stifel is not shown.