Chapter Activities
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Madison Chapter

The Madison Ikes hosted the state convention May 4-6 at their chapter clubhouse. A large group from chapter across the state attended the convention. President Jerry Schlekeway conducted the meetings. Saturday was packed with a variety of speakers. A banquet was held that evening. Numerous awards were presented and the evening was capped off with GFP Secretary, Jeff Vonk, as the banquet speaker. Sunday was filled with a business meeting closing out the convention.

Sioux Falls Chapter

The Club planted three trees at Robert Bennis Elementary in Brandon. A spruce and two maple trees. A big thanks to Phil Langner for chairing the project and to Doug and Roger for their great presentation. The students really enjoyed the program and asked a number of questions.

The Sioux Falls chapter participated in a spring ditch walk. The weather cooperated allowing the Ikes to pick up a lot of trash and have a great mini tailgate party. Doug Erstad provided a great supper back at the clubhouse.

Sunshine Chapter

The Sunshine Chapter of Pierre, SD hosted the state fall board meeting October 27 and 28. Early arrivals on Friday were treated to a pheasant hunt. That evening the group participated in a walleye fish fry followed by a BB gun demonstration from Pierre's national champions. Saturday morning representatives met to discuss issues of the state Ikes. Following the meeting, the group again tried their luck at a pheasant hunt.

McCook Lake Chapter

Jerry, Keith Rittscher and Sid Wagner of the McCook Lake Chapter presented six $1,000 scholarships to these undergraduates at the 58th Annual Buffalo Banquet at SDSU on October 20, 2006.
 

Kampeska Chapter

The Kampeska Chapter in Watertown, SD is actively pursuing a conservation project removing the pesky buckthorn from Memorial Park located on the shores Kampeska Lake. The chapter sponsored a seminar with Janet Larsen from Minneapolis presenting. Janet is a landscape designer and forestry consultant specializing in woodland restoration and native plant design. After her presentation there was hands-on work on identifying, marking, and removing buckthorn. This project could take several years to complete. The chapter also hopes to educate the public about the problems of buckthorn existing in a tree population.

Another project of the chapter is the addition of a handicap dock to the McLaughlin park. At the park there is a pond that has a good population of Northern Pike and Perch. The park also has waterfowl nesting structures. The addition of the dock would enhance fishing opportunities for the handicapped and youth as well as provide more access for better wildlife viewing. The chapter hopes to increase the number of people using the park and provide more opportunities while visitors are at the park.

McCook Lake Chapter

At our April 20 General meeting we presented a $20,000 check to Wayne Winter, the Executive Director of the South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation. This makes a total of $80,000 since 1989. We will also present six $1,000 scholarships to high school senior graduates who will pursue studies in field related to our mission statement.

Rapid City Chapter

The Rapid City Chapter was the host to the annual state convention. It was held in Hill City. One of the more popular activities was a tour of the Hill City saw mill that took members through all the phases of the mill. The Early Bird meeting was held at the Dick Rassmussen residence. Saturday was filled with presentations on the Ag program, updates on the work of the national IWLA, and the Upper Big Sioux water project. Saturday concluded with a banquet and speakers. Sunday meetings were conducted by president Mike Williams. A new slate of officers was elected with the gavel being passed to Jerry Schlekeway of the Sunshine chapter.

Sunshine Chapter

The Sunshine Chapter and the forestry division of the state Department of Agriculture donated 242 trees for local second-graders to plant in commemoration of Arbor Day. Larry Nelson and his wife Sandra spoke with Pierre and Fort Pierre children about how, when and where to plant their trees and how to care for them until they are grown. (Photo by Rebecca Cruse, Pierre Capital Journal)

The Sunshine Chapter has around 100 youth members and are going to pursue getting the youth involved in the chapter. The overall membership is up and they want to continue to have projects to keep people involved.

This spring the Sunshine chapter had a fish feed for the needy of Pierre and fed over 350 people and had 30 members involved in the project. It was the largest number any group has had at the supper and the group took all the leftovers home for another meal.

The chapter is currently waiting for the hopeful approval of the Youth and Adult Conservation Activities Center building grant.

The Sunshine Chapter has a new manager for their club house, Scott Pitlick. They also have an e-mail at the chapter. iwla@mncomm.com

Chapters - please send information about your projects along with a photo to Jerry Olson (olsonjer@wat.midco.net)