Maine Audubon Calls for Nominations for 2006 Awards

PORTLAND, Maine, April 11, 2006

Maine Audubon, the state’s largest wildlife conservation organization, is accepting nominations through Friday, May 12 for its annual awards. The awards draw attention to individuals in Maine whose outstanding efforts as volunteers or professionals have advanced wildlife conservation locally or statewide.

A nomination form can be downloaded at www.maineaudubon.org. Or call Retta Choate at (207) 781-2330, ext. 221, to request a nomination form.

Award winners will be announced publicly at an awards presentation beginning 6:30 p.m., Thursday, June 29, at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth. The presentation is part of Maine Audubon’s Annual Meeting and Peony Bloom and Ice Cream Social.

There are three award categories for nominations:

• The Maine Audubon Volunteer of the Year awardrecognizes the exceptional efforts of a volunteer who has substantially assisted Maine Audubon programs, projects, or events. It also is a symbolic thank you to all Maine Audubon volunteers, all of whom are eligible for the award.

• The Maine Audubon Educator of the Year award recognizes the outstanding efforts of a Maine educator who has made a significant contribution toward expanding children’s or adults’ knowledge of the natural world and wildlife conservation in Maine. The recipient may be a teacher at any level of formal instruction, or an educator in another capacity of children or adults.

• The Maine Audubon Wildlife Conservation Award is given to an individual or group who has made a significant contribution to wildlife conservation in Maine in the areas of advocacy/policy, research/science, education, program development, or business development. The work may have had local or statewide impact, and should serve as a model for action that potentially can be undertaken elsewhere in Maine.

Last year’s award winners are: Dave Evers, Standish, 2005 Maine Audubon Conservationist of the Year; Lisa Kane, South China, 2005 Maine Audubon Educator of the Year; and Julie Suchecki, Scarborough, 2005 Maine Audubon Volunteer of the Year.

Evers, executive director of Biodiversity Research Institute in Gorham, has worked with his colleagues to band more than 3,000 common loons across the United States and Canada, providing answers to many long-standing questions about loon conservation and biology. He also has worked diligently to document the detrimental effects of mercury on common loons and other wildlife.

Kane, a natural-resource educator with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, turned an about-to-be-decommissioned former pheasant farm and drop-off site for injured animals into the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray.

Suchecki has long served the York County Chapter of Maine Audubon, establishing its Web site, recruiting members, editing the chapter newsletter, and creating and managing a large and active statewide birding list-serve. She also has volunteered for multiple projects at Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center.

MAINE AUDUBON works to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people of all ages in education, conservation and action.

With a 160-year history of connecting people with nature, Maine Audubon is the only organization in Maine that uses three different strategies to conserve wildlife: hands-on environmental education, research and wildlife-conservation projects, and action to help shape science-based policy.

Support for Maine Audubon comes from its 11,000 members and supporters, including individuals, foundations and corporations.

For more information about Maine Audubon, call (207) 781-2330 or visit www.maineaudubon.org.

MAINE AUDUBON works to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people of all ages in education, conservation and action.

Support for Maine Audubon comes from its 11,000 members and supporters, including individuals, foundations and corporations. Members are automatically members of their local Maine Audubon chapter and National Audubon Society, Inc., of which Maine Audubon is an affiliate. Contributions to Maine Audubon are used only in Maine.

For more information or to become a member of Maine Audubon, call (207) 781-2330 or click here.

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