Ducks Unlimited has migrated to MSU.

The MSU chapter's mission is to conserve wetlands and waterfalls and to support research by raising money to purchase the acreage, club officials said.

Amy Spray, group co-president and environmental sciences and management senior, said the group, in its first year as a registered student organization, is recruiting members. Spray said the club will begin hosting activities next semester, such as a euchre tournament, with hopes of raising twice as much money as the group spends on the events.

"We're just trying to get some names and hopefully next semester they'll take over," Spray said. "We know students aren't inclined to throw money out, so we want to start small. We eventually want to expand to alumni and more students."

Spray, who started the organization, will be leaving the group at the end of the semester, but the group has about 10 members to carry on.

Todd Bishop, regional director for southwest Michigan Ducks Unlimited, said the MSU chapter will hopefully encourage students to join and perhaps to try to help with conserving more wetlands in the future.

The group has been popular among Southeastern Conference universities, so Bishop said he is happy to see the club becoming popular among northern schools.

Ducks Unlimited has more than 1 million members nationwide - about 36,000 come from Michigan. Bishop added 1 million gallons of ground water are used every day by Americans, so the group looks for a way to "recharge" the earth.

"I think with the focus Michigan State has on majors with the environment and agricultural backgrounds, it's great," Bishop said. "When you put a piece of land back in the ground