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The Robert Cooper Audubon Society will honor the recipients of its 2025 conservation awards from 6 to 9 pm. Thursday, Dec. 4 at the Ball State University Alumni Center, 2800 W. Bethel Ave., Muncie. The public is invited.
The event, which includes inspiring presentations by the honorees, appetizers, and door prizes, is free and open to non-Audubon members. Attendees should RSVP to cooperaudubon@gmail.com by Nov. 20.
The following individuals will be recognized for their contributions to conservation and environmental education in east central Indiana:
Sheryl Myers, Anderson, will receive the Robert H. and Esther L. Cooper Conservation Award, the chapter’s highest honor, for overall contributions to, conservation of and appreciation for the natural environment. Myers’ extensive contributions include co-founding the White River Watchers of Madison County, which sponsors one or two river clean-ups each year; serving as a founding board member of the Red-tail Land Conservancy; helping found the Heart of the River, which is dedicated to protecting the White River and Mounds State Park from an economic development plan to dam the river near downtown Anderson; and co-writing the weekly column “On Nature” for the Anderson Herald-Bulletin.
Diana Bowman, Hagerstown, will receive the Clyde W. Hibbs Conservation Education Award, for excellence in educating the area’s children, youth and/or adults on conservation issues and practices. For 28 years, in Hagerstown and New Castle, Bowman has inspired students to become passionate stewards of the natural world through hands-on activities. Her student-based activities include coaching Envirothon teams, taking students to Costa Rica, helping lead New Castle’s Cool the Climate Festival, participating in Ohio River clean-ups, removing invasive plant species and planting native trees.
Keith Morris, Anderson, will receive the Richard Greene Public Service Award, for active involvement in serving the public’s environmental interests and concerns. For five years, Morris served as volunteer caretaker of Anderson’s Edgewater Park, to mow, clean and remove trash. Since 2009, as a volunteer in every White River Watchers clean-up, he has removed approximately 200 tires and 5-6 tons of trash. He takes the lead in clearing fallen limbs and other barriers for other volunteers and removing large debris that is too large for individual paddlers to handle.
Ryan Smith, Bluffton, will receive the Phyllis Yuhas Wildlife Habitat Preservation Award, for development or preservation of habitat that contains significant wildlife and/or native plant life populations. Smith has been the East Central Regional Ecologist in 15 counties for the Indiana DNR Division of Nature Preserves since 2022. Based in Geneva, Ind., he has put his expertise on native plants and invasive species control to valuable use in helping restore, maintain and expand properties in the Limberlost Swamp Conservation Area, most recently facilitating the planting of 10,000 hardwood trees.
Chayson Brown, Bluffton, will receive the Charles D. Wise Youth Conservation Award, for excellence in conservation practices by a youth under the age of 18. For his Eagle Scout Project, as a member of Scouts BSA Troop 149, Brown created three boot scrape stations with interpretive signs for the Limberlost Conservation Area, with the help of his troop, parents (Mary and Donald Brown), Regional Ecologist Ryan Smith, the Indiana DNR and Friends of the Limberlost. The boot scrapes are designed to prevent the spread of invasive species’ seeds on trails at three Limberlost sites.
The Robert Cooper Audubon Society serves nearly 400 members in seven counties of east central Indiana and is a chapter of the National Audubon Society. Visit cooperaudubon.org for more information.