DUC Sittler jersey puts smile on SickKids’ face Gail and Carl Bulger have been attending the annual Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) dinner in Yellowknife, NWT for over 20 years. Sometimes they’ll also attend one in Newfoundland, where their cabin is located. So when it comes to DUC memorabilia, they pretty much have it all. At last year’s event, the couple won the High Summer is Ducks Unlimited Canada’s (DUC) Flyer auction and had their choice of a diamond busiest construction time, and staff kicked bracelet, cash or hockey hall-of-famer Darryl off the season by rebuilding Echo Valley Farm Sittler’s jersey. Since they already had a Sittler on Vancouver Island. A crew replaced several jersey it seemed that would be off the table, aging water control structures and improved but the jersey was exactly what they chose. dikes bordering the 154-hectare property. With their first jersey already hanging in Once the fall harvest is complete, the contheir “hockey room” at the cabin, there trol structures will manage the flow of was only one place for the coveted water, creating productive waterfowl sweater – they took it back to where habitat and preventing soil erosion. Sittler started his career: Toronto. “There are few freshwater places “We donated it to SickKids,” says Gail like this on the Island,” confirms Jeanwestern Region B. C . / b o r e a l Bulger. “That was the reason I picked the ine Bond, a DUC biologist overseeing jersey.” She then joked that she didn’t want the project. “Birds thrive here, feeding on a bracelet with bigger diamonds anyway. leftover potatoes and organic matter in the Based in Toronto, the Hospital for Sick Children soil. It’s not unusual to see hundreds of Top: a pond at Vancouver Island’s Echo (SickKids) is a a world-leading pediatric health trumpeter swans at Echo Valley Farm in the Valley Farm. Above: work crews lower a care institution. It’s a place the Bulger family water control into place on the property. winter.” knows well, particularly the Urology Clinic. “My son has had 27 surgeries over his life,” says Bulgar of her 10-year son Lonan. “He was born without a urethra and has a surgery, on average, every six months.” Their hospital visits can be as long as five Hartnell Marshes now forms part of a wildlife corridor north of Dawson Creek, B.C. weeks, the latest one lasting 10 days. Carl Bulger With funding from Encana Corporation and conservation partners, Ducks Unlimited is an active athlete and the whole family, which Canada (DUC) bought Hartnell’s four quarter sections and then restored the wetlands includes seven-year-old Regan, are big hockey with funding provided by Imperial Oil Foundation. fans and cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs. “We plugged the ditches so the lower areas would gradually fill with runoff, and “The Sittler jersey will be hung in the Urology we planted the hills with grasses to encourage more ducks to nest,” says DUC biologist Clinic as a reminder of the amazing work of the Darryl Kroeker. “Some areas will be hayed, and we will time harvest to avoid nesting staff there,” says Bulger. waterfowl. When sustainably managed, forages can benefit both wildlife and farming.” ”[Lonan] is doing great now. When I told him I bought the jersey for SickKids, he said ‘sweet.’”
Restoring Echo Valley Farm kicks off busy construction season
Hartnell Marshes benefits wildlife and farming