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George C. Reifel Named President of Ducks Unlimited Canada 
WINNIPEG, July 2 - Vancouver native George C. Reifel will serve as Ducks Unlimited Canada's (DU) 30th president for the next two years. The announcement was made during the organization's annual general meeting recently held in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
"Waterfowl conservation has always been a major part of my life and it is with great pride that I accept this position,'' Reifel said.
Elected to the board of directors of DU Canada in 1982, Reifel served on several committees before being elected vice-president in 1994. He is also a director of several other conservation organizations including Ducks Unlimited, Inc., the Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, the Nature Trust of British Columbia and the British Columbia Waterfowl Society.
Reifel considers himself fortunate to have been born into a family with strong waterfowling heritage and an even stronger conservation ethic. In the 1920s, Reifel's grandfather created a diked wetland complex that would include the area set aside in the 1960s to create the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. In 1972, Reifel's father transferred the family's interest in the sanctuary and surrounding area to the people of Canada on the condition it be managed in perpetuity for the primary benefit of waterfowl. It soon became a Ramsar site, designating it as an area of international significance for waterfowl.
"I became involved with DU because I believe strongly in its purpose and because I wanted to build rather than rest on the conservation efforts of my forefathers,'' he said.
His mandate as president of DU includes a commitment to expand its close relationship with Ducks Unlimited, Inc. in the US and to keep DU positioned as Canada's most respected conservation organization.
Reifel is a principal of the Reifel Cooke Group, a private real estate development and brokerage company based in Vancouver, British Columbia where he lives with his wife Wendy and two year old son George.
