Olympic golden boy Jon Montgomery to champion wetlands

Olympic gold medallist Jon Montgomery is Ducks Unlimited Canada's newest ambassador, 
working to encourage Canadians to get active outdoors.

Photograph by: Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald

Olympic golden boy Jon Montgomery to champion wetlands

By Colette Derworiz,

Calgary Herald

September 27, 2012

He's best known for grabbing a pitcher of beer from the crowd on the way to his gold-medal ceremony in Whistler, but it was a classic Prairie scene that defined Jon Montgomery's career as an athlete.

Growing up in small-town Manitoba, the future skeleton athlete spent many childhood days skating on a pond.

"For Prairie folk, being out-side is part of your DNA," said the 33-year old Calgarian. "Going out and shovelling off a pond and skating on it is the fabric that makes up some of the communities.
 

"It's a social activity, a social event."

The pond outside of Russell, Man., is a protected wetland - making Montgomery a clear choice as an ambassador for Ducks Unlimited.

"Everybody loves Jon," said Gillian Potvin, spokeswoman for Ducks Unlimited. "He's a proud Canadian, everybody watched him in the Olympics.

"It was a very natural fit." The conservation organization, which turns 75 next year, is declaring 2013 the year of the conservation champion - an initiative aiming to encourage people to get active and get involved in the outdoors.

Montgomery will help raise awareness about the role Canadians can play in conserving the country's wetlands, including marshes and ponds.

The Olympic champion said he got his appetite for com-petition by getting involved in sports as a child.

"I played hockey for 15 years growing up," he said, adding there wasn't an option to keep playing once he went to college. "So when I moved to Calgary, I wanted to find something I could do competitively, and that's what landed me here."

Since his gold-medal win at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Montgomery said he has looked for opportunities to get involved in the com-munity.

"I think one would be re-miss if they didn't use their success at the Olympics as a platform to try to effect change in our country," he said. "The environment in which we live is obviously important to me because of my background.

"So when Ducks Unlimited approached me, it was a no-brainer because I saw in them an organization that I believe and know to do great work, not only in Canada but in my own backyard."

Since it began, Ducks Unlimited has conserved about 2.4-million hectares of wet-lands, including marshes and ponds, and has completed more than 9,000 habitat conservation projects. However, the country also loses 32 hectares - equivalent to 45 soccer fields - of wetlands each day. While wetlands are habitat for birds and other wildlife, they also filter water that flows into rivers and lakes, and reduce flooding, drought and erosion.

LINK: (via: Calgary Herald)