The DeRoo Youth Conservation Event celebrated its ninth year providing youngsters with the opportunity to actually partake in hunting experiences for pheasant, waterfowl, and whitetail deer. The entire event took place over a two weekend period starting with the conservation dinner at the Montezuma Audubon Center (MAC) on Friday September 30th.

One project accomplished in 2016 was the launch of a multi-year rail banding study. Rails are common in the Montezuma Marshes, but they are secretive and infrequently encountered. The goal of the study is to uncover important information about their secret lives – to better understand, especially, the movement and habitat utilization of rails in the Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area marshes.