SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

We could sure use your help to support Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge's 10,000+ acres.  Purchase a membership, join us for a fundraising event, purchase items from the Nature Store, donate an item listed below, donate land, volunteer your time...There are tons of ways that YOU can help!  Please give us a call at 419-898-0014 x13.
 
****What's this charge on my card??
If you are not sure about a charge on your card for Network for Good, it's probably from helping us! Specific donations, like sponsorships, benefit tickets, or becoming a member are processed through our friends at Network for Good. We use Network for Good to manage these donations. Call us if you have any questions ~ 419-898-0014 x13.

ITEM WISHLIST

Education and Interpretation:
  • ​Help us bring in the birds! Black-oil sunflower seed, niger seed, whole peanuts, and suet cakes
  • Digital Cameras and SD Cards
  • Fishing Tackle, Rods, and Supplies ✓
  • Bird feeders and stands for Wildlife Window ✓
  • Monarch Waystation Signs (Need 5, totaling $124.75)
  • Black Picture frames and white matts (9x12, x10) (13X19, x10) ✓
Visitor Center Maintenance:
  • Batteries
  • Flashlights​
Friends Group Office Supplies:
  • White Copy Paper
  • Office Depot Gift Cards
Friends Group Fundraising Events:
  • Silent Auction Items
  • Door Prizes

EQUIPMENT WISHLIST

Education and Interpretation: 
  • Wheelchair (Used or new!) ✓
  • Outreach banners & displays
    • ​Banner Stand ($332.00)
    • Trade Show Super Set ($1663.00)
  • Canoes (7), Life vests (50- varying sizes), Paddles (50), and a Canoe Trailer to support new programming in 2019
  • Updated AV Equipment for Multipurpose Room ✓
  • Interpretive Tour Bus ($50,000)
  • Tram ($30,000)
  • Vehicle to pull tram ($40,000)
For RV Volunteers:
  • Washer, dryer✓, and utility sink for RV Pads (Used or new!)
General Maintenance:
  • Leafblower
  • Animal-proof trash cans (Need 10 at $1,123/each)
  • Semi to haul heavy equipment ($50,000) ✓
Restoration:
  • 8x20 Greenhouse ($4,199.99)
  • 16x20 Greenhouse ($7,963.99)
Make a donation, make an impact.
Many Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge give beyond their membership dues by volunteering or regularly purchasing items in the Rookery Nature Store. Others go beyond membership by making annual or monthly donations to programs they especially value. It is also possible to make a donation in memory or honor of someone special to you. 
Coronavirus Relief
​The Rookery Nature Store and Ottawa Refuge Visitor Center have been closed due to COVID-19 since March 16, 2020, and our hearts are breaking a little more each day. Springtime is a crucial season for Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge as the increased visitation allows us to raise $50,000 - $70,000 for the refuge through our Nature Store and spring events. With our income streams frozen for the foreseeable future we are crushed and struggling, but we are not beaten.Being shut down this spring will mean impacts to our priority areas of support including: Maintenance Projects, Restoration Initiatives, Intern Stipends, Field Trip Transportation Grants, Land Acquisition.
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We know that our community is resilient and that what we do on a regular basis makes an impact at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. Friends of Ottawa NWR still has work to do and more than 10,000 acres of critical shoreline habitats to support. We don't know what the future will bring, but we do know that the refuge still desperately needs your help. Donating today will make sure that we can get back on track once this crisis is over. Can you help?
The Marinewood Unit is located on SR 163 between Oak Harbor and Port Clinton. This 62.2 acre unit is named after the old Marinewood Golf Course. Ducks Unlimited donated the golf course to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014. Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge now manages the parcel. The USFWS has completed a restoration project and has plans to open the property for public use.

Currently a pair of bald eagles have an active nest in the middle of the parcel providing a unique wildlife observation opportunity. Plans also include providing restrooms, an RV pad for a site host, and potentially a raised boardwalk and shelter house. The next phase of the project will focus on increasing visitor amenities including a gravel trail, kayak launch, kiosk, and nature play area. Phase II is estimated to cost $25,000. Can you help us to complete Phase II of this project?
Sponsor an intern.
​Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge interns make a huge impact for conservation at your national wildlife refuge. Most interns are college students involved with Biology, Conservation, or Environmental Studies programs. While gaining valuable work experience and assisting refuge staff with projects, refuge interns live and work at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge for 13 week terms​. Internship opportunities are offered at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge year-round as funds are available. While the refuge provides free housing for interns, they do not have funds available to pay them for their time.  Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge provides living stipends for interns at a rate of $400 per week for a total of $5,200 per internship. The offer of free housing, a small living stipend while learning about conservation is a huge draw for students across the country.
There is need for a total of six, 13 week intern stipends per year.You can sponsor an intern for $400 a week, or sponsor their entire experience for $5,200. 
Sponsor a field trip.
Teaching children about the environment and why we should value it is a major goal at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge currently brings environmental education programs to about 4,500 students per year from surrounding counties. Unfortunately, many students are missed because their schools just don’t have money for field trips. Each year, Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (FONWR) provides $2,500 towards the cost of transportation grants. There is need for a total of 15 transportation grants per year.

​Please help us teach our next generation to value our environment and how to protect it. Help us teach them to become good stewards of the earth. Please consider sponsoring the visit of one or more classes each year for $250 each. Together, we can make a difference.
Want to help, but not ready to make the $250 contribution? Use the custom amount of $4.80 and set the frequency to "weekly" to make an impact a little bit at a time.
Donate to improve West Harbor Landing.

West Harbor is a 16 acre parcel that was purchased by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service from the Bradley family in 2016. It is located on Catawba Island, about 4 miles east of Port Clinton, Ohio. Much of the acreage is marshland. Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge plans to improve the remaining land to include pollinator habitat and visitor amenities including a gazebo, fishing platform/observation deck, improved canoe/kayak launch, benches, trash/recycling, and signage.
Picture
(c) Steve Bodart
Donate to the Land Acquisition Fund.
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One of Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge's long term goals is to establish a $500,000 Land Acquisition and Restoration Fund. This fund will allow us to aid the refuge with the purchase of land from willing property owners and restoration of existing refuge parcels from Toledo to the Sandusky Bay. 

If you love federal lands, donate today to help support this worthy cause.