Friends of Tamarac were honored by the Natonal Wildlife and Refuge Associaton with the Molly Krival Friends group of the year award for exemplary performance.
The Friends and Tamarac Refuge received the tourism of the year award from the Detroit Lakes Chamber of Commerce for active promotion of visitor opportunities.
A joint grant was applied for related to restoring 150 wetlands on tribal and other lands.
We were presented with a plaque of appreciation by the Trempealeau National Refuge Friends group from Wisconsin for our help and support in their development of an educa5on facility.
The fall festival event “The Duck Stops Here” had about 400 in attendance. It had events carried out at the cabin site, Visitors Center and at the Discovery Center.
We hosted 170 hikers from 17 states who were attending the regional North Country Trail conference which was held in Fargo. Hikers participated in a variety of hikes ranging in length from a short photo hike to a 13.5 mile hike crossing the full refuge NCT system.
Videos were developed to promote our efforts of connecting children with nature. These have been shared with a number of service clubs for community outreach and to expand volunteers.
The Aquatic Invasive Species team of eight inspected 138 boats and 288 fishermen on 9 Saturday mornings in an effort to educate and prevent the spread of AIS.
A mentoring program was begun with Concordia college students to train educators for visiting school groups and the EE committee created a Tamarac Journal for use by visiting school groups.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant for $5,000 was completed.
We hosted the sixth annual “Toast to Tamarac” fundraising event, and par5cipated in two on-line giving programs – Give to the Max and The Giving Hearts Day.
Additional funds were raised through a Dilly Bar campaign, We Fest Clean-up and a quilt raffle.
Friends sponsored another successful photo contest with a photo display exhibited in the Washington Square Mall during National Wildlife Refuge Week and awards were presented.
Quarterly newsletters were developed, as well as the webpage and Facebook representations were expanded to increase connections with the public.
Friends co-sponsored the 2016 Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds.
Friends coordinated photo workshops as a result of a grant.
Friends contributed thousands of volunteer hours at Tamarac,, many were for environmental education, trail work, maintenance, and helping with a variety of interpretive programs.