Robert Cooper Audubon Society - 2007 spring banquet

2007 awards banquet

conservation award winners • photo gallery
• thanks to supporters

Our awards banquet, held on November 12 at Minnetrista, was a great success, with approximately 50 members, guests, and friends of the Robert Cooper Audubon Society on hand. The evening’s highlights were a program by Rich Fields, photographer for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and Outdoor Indiana magazine, followed by presentation of this year’s conservation awards to four individuals in our area. (No Youth Conservation Award was given because no nominations were received.)

Conservation award winners

Mooreland resident and Wapahani High School teacher Adam Winters was the winner of the Clyde W. Hibbs Conservation Education Award. Adam has challenged students in his environmental science classes to find solutions to environmental problems through class projects such as Raider Recycling, which kept more than eight tons of solid waste out of landfills last year alone; Wapahani Can Fund and Project Bright Idea, through which students collect and recycle aluminum cans, then use the money to purchase high-compact fluorescent light bulbs and distribute them to the community at no cost; and Project Orchard, which has converted portions of unused school property into a community orchard and garden. Classes write grant applications each year and use money from recycling projects to fund their projects.

The Phyllis Yuhas Wildlife Habitat Preservation Award was presented to Loretta Heiniger, of Anderson, for her work in protecting and propagating Monarch Butterflies. Her property is registered as a National Wildlife Federation Backyard Habitat and serves as an official Monarch waystation through the national Monarch Watch project. Thanks to Loretta, thousands of Monarch eggs that otherwise could have been a meal for predators have, instead, survived and been released as butterflies. In 2006 alone, she raised more than 500 Monarchs. As an educational speaker, she has informed audiences about the life cycle of Monarchs and the many threats their populations now face. Besides turning her own garden into a haven for Monarchs, she recently designed and helped install a butterfly garden at Mounds State Park, now the largest Monarch waystation in any Indiana state park.

Winner of the Richard Greene Public Service Award was Dwight Shelton, Farmland resident, for his role in orchestrating a cooperative effort of various conservation-minded organizations and individuals. Under Dwight’s leadership, the group has made substantial habitat improvements at the 400+ acres of the Randolph County Wildlife Management Area. They created and implemented a plan that included various plantings (1300 oak trees, sunflowers and millet, a six-acre perennial food plot, a ten-acre annual food plot, and wildflowers). They also improved habitat for rabbits, quail, and other small species, with thick stands of native grasses and brush piles. In addition to this latest effort, Dwight has served on the Indiana Heritage Trust Board of Directors for many years and instituted conservation efforts on his own properties.

The Robert H. and Esther L. Cooper Conservation Award, the chapter's highest honor, went to Barb Stedman, of Desoto, in recognition of her various leadership roles in the Robert Cooper Audubon Society over the last 15 years; her work as co-creator of the Living Lightly Fair, a resource fair for sustainable lifestyles in East Central Indiana; her efforts in leading Ball State students to create a website of Indiana’s environmental literature and participate in wetlands restoration projects at the Limberlost Swamp and Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve; and her volunteer service to the Wildlife Resqu Haus and other conservation organizations and initiatives in East Central Indiana.