For Immediate Release
August 21, 2024
Contact: David Gibson, 518-469-4081
or Ken Rimany, krimany@adirondackwild.org
Adirondack Wild Announces 2024 Awards
North Creek, NY – The nonprofit advocate Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve will present annual awards during the organization’s annual meeting on Friday, October 11, 2024, at the Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek. The public is warmly invited. An agenda and registration information can be found at www.adirondackwild.org/events.
Champion of the Forest Preserve: This year’s recognition goes to Helen Chase, a resident of Shokan in the Catskill Park, for her years as a planner, communicator, consensus builder, and advocate for the crucial watershed values of the public’s Forest Preserve in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. Helen has chaired the NYS DEC Forest Preserve Advisory Committee and the Catskill Park Centennial Committee. Currently she is an officer with the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development and a board director with Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve.
Wild Stewardship Award: This year’s award is presented to Sara Frankenfield, GIS Administrator for the Warren County Department of Planning and Community Development, for helping Warren County to take advantage of the Forest Preserve in Warren County as an asset for heritage tourism. Among many other projects, Sara applies her GIS talents helping, in partnership with Cliff & Redfield Interactive, to create the First Wilderness Story Collaboration to guide outdoor adventure, appreciation, understanding, and tourism in Warren County.
Paul Schaefer Wilderness Award: Named for Adirondack wilderness leader Paul Schaefer (1908-1996), this year’s award is presented to Neil Woodworth. An Adirondack resident of Wanakena, Neil led the Adirondack Mountain Club as its conservation chair, executive director, and legal counsel from the mid-1980s until 2019, defending New York’s “forever wild” state constitution, upholding wilderness principles, validating the public’s rights to paddle navigable rivers, and helping to pass legislation protective of New York’s public lands and waters.
Please join Adirondack Wild to celebrate these deserving honorees and the 60th anniversary of the National Wilderness Preservation Act of 1964, authored by The Wilderness Society’s Howard Zahniser, and inspired by New York’s “forever wild” State Constitution. Adirondack Wild’s annual meeting at Tannery Pond in North Creek runs from 11 AM to 3:30 PM and is free and open to the public. Please bring your own lunches. Light refreshments will be available.
Advance Registration is appreciated: Please Email to: krimany@adirondackwild.org, or visit our website, adirondackwild.org/events.
Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve is a not for profit, membership organization devoted to the protection and stewardship of wilderness and other wild lands through advocacy and education. The organization protects wild lands from threats, holds officials accountable and proposes policy reforms. More on the web at adirondackwild.org.