![John Barnes, 82, of Knotts Island, N.C., and Ashley Craft, 26, of the Virginia Beach Oceanfronttook part in the raffle to benefit Ducks Unlimited during the Knotts Island chapter’s banquet at Blue Pete Haven. [John-Henry Doucette/The Princess Anne Independent News]](https://i0.wp.com/princessanneindy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ki-1-5.jpg?resize=640%2C427&ssl=1)
KNOTTS ISLAND, N.C. — The Knotts Island chapter of Ducks Unlimited hosted its annual banquet on Saturday, June 11, at Blue Pete Haven, where people ate, sought raffle prizes and bid upon a wide range of donated goods — decoys, sporting equipment, and other items that spoke to outdoor life.
The chapter’s own name — the Joseph P. Knapp Knotts Island Chapter — connects it the history of the wider organization, said Jim Clark, a retired firefighter who works as a guide in addition to his duties with the chapter.
Knapp, whose name is well known in Currituck County, N.C., was one of the founders of the More Game Birds in America Foundation, which became Ducks Unlimited, dedicated to wetland and waterfowl conservation, according to an organizational history.
“When Ducks Unlimited preserves an acre of land, they don’t just preserve it for the ducks,” Clark said. “It’s every organism on that acre.”
![Gentry Childress, 72, of the North End in Virginia Beach, demonstrates decoy carving as a representative of the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum during the banquet. [John-Henry Doucette/The Princess Anne Independent News]](https://i0.wp.com/princessanneindy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ki-1-2.jpg?resize=640%2C427&ssl=1)
To donate to the chapter, mail a check to KI Ducks Unlimited care of 347 South End Road, Knotts Island, N.C., 27950.
© 2016 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC