When W. H. “Beans” Weatherly joined Ducks Unlimited, a wetlands and waterfowl conservation group, he was just one of six members in North Carolina.

It was 1954, and the non-profit group was in the early years of its conservation and fundraising efforts to restore wetlands and waterfowl habitats in North America.

Back then, the North Carolina chapter struggled to raise thousands of dollars a year to help fund the group’s projects. Weatherly, a longtime Elizabeth City resident, was appointed state chairman of the group in 1954.

Weatherly, called a “Founding Father” for his critical work and contributions in early efforts in establishing chapters in Elizabeth City, Raleigh, Rocky Mount and Lake Mattasmuskeet, is being inducted into the North Carolina Ducks Unlimited Hall of Fame on March 3.

“He was the one who got it started here and started those first four chapters,” said Rodney Warren, immediate past state chairman of Ducks Unlimited. “He was responsible for soliciting the first volunteers for North Carolina Ducks Unlimited.”

Now, thanks in large part to Weatherly’s early efforts, there are 130 Ducks Unlimited chapters throughout North Carolina and there are 25,249 members across the state.

And just last year, the state chapter raised $1.3 million to help fund the non-profit’s efforts to conserve wetlands and waterfowl habitats. Warren said the non-profit has also conserved over 70,820 acres in North Carolina.

But back when Weatherly joined the group 58 years ago as the first state chairman for Ducks Unlimited, getting funding from donors wasn’t an easy proposition.

“We were working hard to raise 3 to 4 to $5,000 a year,” Weatherly said. “And we’ve just been going up, up and up since then.”

When he joined Ducks Unlimited, Weatherly said the organization was focused on restoring wetlands in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada.

“That’s probably where 75 to 80 percent of all our ducks are born,” said Weatherly. It was the national group’s early conservation efforts to re-establish the habitats there that got Weatherly interested in the group.

“The fact that they were going to help out the ducks and actually put back the grasses around the pond where they nest,” Weatherly said.

Fifty-eight years after joining, Weatherly is still involved with the organization, serving as state trustee emeriti and attending the Elizabeth City banquet and dinner. Seeing how far Ducks Unlimited’s reach now extends, Weatherly said, is gratifying.

“Now we go all the way from Alaska, all the way down to Mexico,” Weatherly said, adding that the organization has helped conserve wetlands and create protected areas all along the waterfowl migratory flyaway routes in North America.

“He’s a great guy,” Warren said. “He’s very passionate about Ducks Unlimited’s mission about conservation.”

Rita Frankenberry is a correspondent for The Daily Advance.