By Bruce Ross, Executive Director bruceross@wi.rr.com
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s January, 2021 Newsletter edition.
This fall, WWA was invited to join the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame, taking a seat on the WCHF Board of Directors. The WCHF is comprised of (usually) non-profit organizations who are focused on protecting, conserving and restoring the natural treasures of Wisconsin. The principal purpose of the WCHF is the recognition of quintessential Wisconsin conservationists whose foresight preserved our environment. It’s worth a quick look through the WCHF inductees – it’s a remarkable pantheon of Wisconsin conservation luminaries.
Gary Eldred at the Schurch-Thomson Prairie (TPE owned). 2020. Photo by Tim Eisele.
Member organizations can nominate candidates for the Hall of Fame, and the Board votes to select from amongst the nominees for this remarkable honor. This year’s inductee is Gary Eldred, a hunter, angler and trapper who embraced the natural world to become a self-taught prairie ecologist. He’s worked to preserve thousands of acres of prairie habitat, helping to found The Prairie Enthusiasts (TPE), a non-profit that promotes prairie preservation and restorations by sharing their knowledge, labor, and love of the land. A true renaissance man, Gary draws exceptionally beautiful illustrations of native and endangered and threatened prairie plants. Eldred also wrote stories and booklets about the wondrous world of native landscaping and rare plant communities. Inspirational indeed