Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (May 12/99) - The Rankin Inlet chapter of Ducks Unlimited held its 15th annual Spring Banquet this past weekend and the event followed its past history of being wildly successful.

The highlight of the evening, the Ducks Unlimited auction, featured a dazzling array of signed and numbered paintings and prints, sculptures, rifles, knifes and numerous other tools and items for enjoying life in the great Northern outdoors.

Ralph Ruediger, chairperson for the Rankin chapter, said the annual function is a great get together and one of the biggest bashes to be held every year in Rankin -- one of the main reasons the event always has a high turnout.

"It's our biggest fund-raiser of the year to raise funds for awareness and preservation," said Ruediger. "Most items up for auction came out of the standard Ducks Unlimited package, but we did have a few local donations and a few items we purchased here in the community."

"We had a Quad, or Big Bear ATV, up as our major prize, and along with the auction of course, we held our dinner and dance."

Ron Cockerill, a membership services representative for Ducks Unlimited, said the organization is spending a lot of money in the Northern territories on the snow goose problem, more in fact, than it's raising.

"We're doing research into studying snow goose behaviour," said Cockerill. "The snow goose problem is at explosive proportions. They're such an aggressive bird, they've really taken off in the territories and what they're basically doing is eating themselves out of house and home."

"Eventually their population is probably going to crash, so we're trying to study the birds more and find out more about their behaviour and what's going on with their population in the Arctic."

Rankin Inlet's was the first Ducks Unlimited committee formed in the Northern territories and the first to hold the annual Spring Banquet in 1984. Cockerill said there are now about 19 major dinners held in the Arctic, with Nunavut hosting events in Rankin and Iqaluit.

Cockerill said the Rankin volunteers did a great job canvassing local businesses for the event, adding support from the Rankin business community has always been astronomical.

"The whole community here is 100 per cent behind Ducks Unlimited," said Cockerill. "Ralph and his group of volunteers have just done a super job. It's been a tremendous boost to Ducks Unlimited. After all the counting's completed, it looks like we will have raised about $40,000 from this function to go towards Ducks Unlimited conservation programs."

"Our biggest problem for our annual event in Rankin is not really having a facility big enough to accommodate the demand. People here really support our organization and Ducks Unlimited is very, very grateful for that support."