Roy Kroll: The Man for the Job

A classic "pose" . . . on an evening tour Roy told Art
he never likes pictures of himself. I like this one,
so he'll have to live with it!

As this project started taking shape, it became very clear very quickly that I would need local help. Our home is about an hour drive from the marsh. I have four young children, and a wife who likes me around -- for the most part. I also had some additional, unrelated professional obligations.

Consistent eyes and ears on the ground would be crucial not only for the more technical aspects of marsh management -- e.g., tending to changing water levels, bird-dogging contractors working on the property, monitoring wildlife movements, etc. It would also be critical when it came to the more mundane -- e.g., locking the gate that was left open after dark, keeping an eye out for signs of trespassing, etc., etc., etc. Both lists were feeling seemingly endless.

My hope was that I could find a 20- to 40-something with a basic understanding of marsh management, and maybe more importantly some personal familiarity with the area. I knew I was an outsider and that until I could start earning some local trust and respect, I would be seen as an outsider for a while.

What I found in Roy Kroll is quite frankly too much to describe in a single post . . . maybe even in an entire blog! But before I go any further, it's important to say a few words about Roy as our on-site marsh manager. (He can write his section of the "About Us" -- I get to write about him otherwise because he'd be too modest to say any of it himself.)

Roy and I first met not long after I graduated from college. I was the early 20-something and he was the early 40-something. At the time, Roy managed the most influential private marsh on Lake Erie, Winous Point (WP). That place and that story deserve more than a few posts in their own right, but for now, just know -- if you don't -- that Winous is the oldest continuously operating duck hunting club in North America. Founded in the 1850s, it has endured to be foundational not only to the evolution of waterfowl hunting, it has also been instrumental in both the practical and academic understanding of waterfowl and wetland ecology and preservation.