Dr. LJ Mayeux

Sport: Dave Dixon Award

Marksville physician rose through the ranks of Ducks Unlimited membership to become national president and board chairman and an innovator in environmental education and promotion.

Mayeux founded an “Adopt-A-Classroom” program for kids grades 3-5 at parish/county, state, national and international levels in 1994, and received DU’s highest award (“Wings of Innovation”) 11 years later for the “Cygnet” curriculum he wrote including 32 weeks of teaching guides highlighting conservation in the environment, wetlands and for waterfowl.

Runner up for the 1999 Budweiser Outdoorsman of the Year award, Mayeux took the helm of Ducks Unlimited, Inc., as national president in 2000. After that two-year term, he took over as DU chairman of the board for a two-year term and for only the second time in the organization’s history, his term was extended by a year. He and two other DU officers met with President George Bush in 2004 to discuss conservation and wetlands.

Known throughout the organization as “Dr. Duck,” Mayeux has served in a myriad of capacities for local, state, national and even Canadian DU organizations. As the state chairman from 1993-94, he increased membership by 30%, income by 25% to over $2 million, and was recognized for being No. 1 among the national state DU organizations in increasing “Greenwings” (kids) membership (by 2,650) and sponsors (plus 535). He was instrumental in development of the “MARSH” program which has greatly benefitted hunters and fishermen. He played a vital role in obtaining matching funds from the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe for wetlands restoration throughout North America.

He was the 1994 recipient of the national Conservation Award (Soil, Waters, Minerals, Forests, Wildlife) presented by the Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society. Mayeux has been a key contributor to LSWA conventions, and in 2010, held a DU event in Avoyelles Parish that reportedly generated more than $450,000 in one evening.