The Panora Conservation Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) received its official charter in ceremonies Saturday at the Hotel Pattee in Perry.
IWLA Iowa Division President Jack Johnson presented the charter to Steve Roe, president of the Panora Conservation Chapter, along with fellow members.
Johnson and his wife, Charlotte Johnson, national director of the Iowa Division of the IWLA, came to Perry from Schleswig, Iowa, for the presentation and signing of the charter.
Organized in 1922 by sportsmen aiming to combat water pollution and protect the country’s woods and wildlife, the IWLA today boasts more than 43,000 members in some 240 community-based chapters around the U.S.
The IWLA is the nation’s preeminent organization of hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts and is dedicated to the sustainable use of our country’s natural resources and to building on the accomplishments of those who preceded them as defenders of the nation’s soil, air, woods, waters and wildlife.
Roe also chairs the Raccoon River Watershed Association (RRWA), and the IWLA ceremony was followed by the August meeting of the RRWA.
After the RRWA’s business meeting, board member Eileen Miller gave a presentation on regional dragonflies, including some 120 species native to Iowa, among them the red damselflies, common baskettail dragonflies, widow skimmer dragonflies, blue-fronted dancer damselflies and many more.
Steve Hummel, past president of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, was also among about a dozen attending the morning meeting. Bob Rye of Jefferson, who ran the education center at Springbrook State Park from 1974 to 1996, was a new member in attendance.
