A Visit From Will Dilg

Celebrating the power of people working together to protect our natural resources. Bring history to life in your community with a live performance.

A Visit From Will Dilg is a completed project. All donations to this site will be to bring A Visit From Will Dilg into schools and communities. If you want your donation to go to bringing Will Dilg to a specific school or community, please contact Steven Marking directly at baritonissimo@yahoo.com, and he can schedule the performance or movie screening so you know your donation goes where you want it to.

About the Production:

In A Visit from Will Dilg, Steven Marking plays environmental leader Will Dilg, sharing the story of grass roots activism that led to the protection of America’s first Fish and Wildlife Refuge. A civic engagement success story, the performance showcases the transformation that can happen when people work together for conservation and environmental protection for future generations.

The 50 minute multimedia performance is followed by an interactive discussion by Riverlorian Steven Marking. This production can be followed by songs and stories from another of his creations, Our Mighty Mississippi – from the Headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. This would make a full 2 hour presentation.

A film version for screening can be booked at Kinema.com, and can include a Q&A with the creator, Riverlorian Steven Marking.

“This was our country’s first successful large scale grassroots environmental campaign that changed our national moral compass from destroying wetlands to preserving them. The name Will Dilg should be synonymous with John Muir and Aldo Leopold. He was one of the founders of our modern conservation movement.”
– Steven Marking, Director

Visit our website for the trailer and get in touch.

To book a film screening, visit Kinema.

Who was Will Dilg?

Dilg was An avid fisherman and Chicago businessman who was profoundly connected to the natural habitat. As an ad man for a liquor company in the 1910’s, he spent his summers fishing on the Upper Mississippi River. After his only son drowned in the river at 4 years old, Will Dilg transformed himself into a fanatic crusader for the wild places that were under attack by human development, especially his beloved Upper Mississippi River. In 1922 he founded the Izaak Walton League, one of America’s longest running conservation organizations, which continues on to this day.

The untold history of Americans rallying together to protect the environment:

In 1923 the War department issued a permit to drain the Winnishiek bottoms near Lansing Iowa – and Dilg knew that if someone didn’t act fast the entire river habitat would soon be lost to developers. Dilg and the Izaak Walton League introduced legislation to purchase the remaining stretch of Upper Mississippi floodplain habitat, and make it a great National Preserve. This was an unprecedented grass roots campaign – our first successful large scale environmental movement.

The Women of America Come to the Rescue:

Women had recently won the right to vote, and they used their collective voices to join in the crusade. The General Federation of Women’s Clubs of America and the Izaak Walton League shifted public opinion and pushed legislation through congress to designate an unprecedented 261 mile stretch of river lands as The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Today the refuge is 244,000 acres of protected wetland habitat, extending from Reads Landing, Minnesota to Rock Island, Illinois.

Director’s Statement:

“I grew up along the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish refuge, I always expected that the entirety of the river looked something like it did in my backyard. But I was very wrong. The beauty and unique ecosystem we are blessed with up north diminishes below Davenport and Rock Island. A system of continuous levees have turned a magnificent ecosystem into an industrial shipping corridor, all with little regard for Mother Nature. Even with its many ecological issues, the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge remains a paradise compared to the river below.

When I set out to tell this story, I didn’t realize it was a classic great American story. The overcoming of emotional loss, the challenge of reversing the political and economic juggernaut that was taking over our wetlands, the rallying of the sportsmen across the country, the speedy alliance he made with the American women, and the successful passage of legislation that everyone said could not be passed.” – Steven Marking