WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
SOCIETY IS NAMED 2007 CONSERVATIONIST OF THE YEAR
BY THE ADIRONDACK COUNCIL
Award to be Presented at Split Rock Farm on Saturday
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-456-4512 (home)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
ESSEX, N.Y. - The Adirondack
Council, one of New York's largest and most influential environmental
organizations, today announced it would name the Wildlife Conservation
Society as its 2007 Conservationist of the Year. The award will
be presented at the Council's annual Forever Wild Dinner at the
Split Rock Farm, overlooking Whallons Bay on Lake Champlain,
at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 14.
"Since 1895, WCS has worked to save wildlife and wild lands
throughout the world," said Adirondack Council Executive
Director Brian L. Houseal. "More recently, their North
America program was established to protect our country's endangered
wildlife, as well as the large remaining natural areas, including
the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park.
"The Wildlife Conservation Society's Adirondack Program,
based in Saranac Lake, works to promote both healthy communities
and wildlife conservation in the Adirondacks, through research,
community involvement, and outreach. WCS's Adirondack activities
include on-the-ground field research on boreal birds, loons and
black bears; charting the impact of all-terrain vehicles on wildlife
habitat; and, documenting the ecological value of state-subsidized
conservation agreements with private landowners," Houseal
said.
"One of the WCS Adirondack Program's many outstanding achievements
has been the recent publication of The Adirondack Atlas,"
Houseal said. "It is a nearly 300-page, illustrated description
of every aspect of the Adirondack Park, from its origins in 1892
to current issues such as acid rain and climate change; from
its unequaled expanses of wild forests and waters to the everyday
workings of the Park's businesses and its economy.
"It's not just a collection of maps. It really gives the
reader a sense of why the Adirondack Park exists, why it remains
a special place, and what its survival means to the rest of the
world," Houseal explained.
"Through the Atlas and their many research efforts - from
understanding the impact of mercury on loons to researching the
impacts of residential development on the park's wildlife - the
Wildlife Conservation Society is providing key information that
is critical for the conservation of the Adirondacks," said
Houseal.
Accepting the Conservationist of the Year Award for WCS will
Adirondack Program Coordinator Zoë Smith. After dinner,
there will be a presentation by scientist Jerry Jenkins, principal
author of The Adirondack Atlas. Jenkins is a botanist with expertise
in forest ecology and will talk about future changes in the Adirondacks
from climate change and other factors.
"We are pleased to receive this award from the Adirondack
Council," said Smith. "For the past fifteen years
the Wildlife Conservation Society been working for conservation
in the region, and this award is a wonderful acknowledgement
of our efforts."
WCS is the 23rd annual winner of the Council's Conservationist
of the Year Award. Conferred with the award each year is a museum-quality,
hand-carved common loon, craft by an award-winning Adirondack
artisan.
Past Conservationist of the Year winners include: Gov. George
E. Pataki, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, New York Times Editor John Oakes,
NYS Senator Carl Marcellino, NYS Assemblyman Richard Brodsky,
NYS DEC Commissioners John P. Cahill and Erin Crotty, Adirondack
Park Agency Executive Director Robert Glennon, the Adirondack
Lakes Survey Corporation, and Adirondack activists Clarence Petty
and Peter Borrelli; as well as the late Paul Schaefer, and the
late State Senator and Public Service Commission Chairman Harold
Jerry.
Founded in 1975, the Adirondack Council is a privately funded
not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the ecological
integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. With members
in all 50 United States, the Council carries out its mission
through research, advocacy, public education and legal action.
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