Home Officers Constitution and Bylaws Historical Reports Award Recipients Newsletters/Meeting Minutes Photo Gallery Conference Info  Call for Posters  Pre-Registration    Itinerary      Directions to Conference	Click Here ot vote via Zoomerang And the nominees are..... Dan Huss, retired, Division of Wildlife district manager, Division of Wildlife, Columbus Dan Huss dedicated his career to the Division of Wildlife gladly giving 28 ½ years of his life to wildlife conservation.  Dan grew up on a family farm in rural Seneca County.  His early research efforts included collecting muskrat feet and color marking starlings and sparrows.  Dan was deeply affected by the loss of habitat on his family’s property as woods were cleared for farming and fields tiled.  It was these early experiences that steered Dan towards a career in wildlife conservation.             While a student at The Ohio State University, Dan began his career with the Division of Wildlife in June of 1981 as an Intern with the Private Lands Program. In March of 1982, Dan was hired on full-time with the Division as a Private Lands Biologist in D-4.  Dan was part of the Private Lands expansion class (i.e. “The Class the Luck Fell On”) along with John Daugherty, Heidi Devine, Jeff Cummins and Karen Cole.  Dan was in District 4 for a short time before transferring into the Private Lands Biologist position in District 1.  In District One Dan teamed up with Dave Risley and the two were often referred to as brothers.  In the early days, Private Lands Biologists were still used like Wildlife Conservation Aides; meaning they still did “grunt” work in the field alongside wildlife area personnel.  In fact, Dan spent a considerable amount of time in the field assisting Deer Creek Wildlife Area staff with planting warm season grasses on newly purchased Wildlife Production Areas.  He also worked with Dave Risley to plant warm season grasses in Salt Creek Twp. in Pickaway County as part of a pilot habitat development program on private land.  In his years as a Private Lands Biologist, Dan helped countless people develop habitat on their property.               Eventually, Dan was promoted to Assistant Wildlife Management Supervisor, serving under then Wildlife Management Supervisor Dave Graham.  These two were also referred to as brothers.  As Assistant Wildlife Supervisor, Dan was instrumental in implementing the fledging Peregrine Falcon Restoration Project.  Dan’s main responsibility at the time was to act as Dave’s logical side.  For example, Dan was there to question as to whether it was wise to rappel down the side of the State Office Tower to reach an otherwise “unreachable” ledge where an “injured” falcon supposedly lay OR if it was safe to be in downtown Columbus after dark looking in back alleys for missing falcons.  Thanks to Dan’s sound judgment and wise decisions, Dave Graham survived the “canyons” of downtown Columbus and lived to lead the Ohio Division of Wildlife as Chief.  When the eagle project looked to expand their list of qualified tree climbers, Dan quickly volunteered for the training.                Probably his most significant project involvement at the time surrounded the acquisition of 3,800 acres at Big Island Wildlife Area.  Dan was responsible for authoring a NAWCA grant proposal which was valued at $1,000,000.  The wetlands and prairie habitat restored through this grant made Big Island the largest wetland prairie complex on public land in Ohio.  Dan was also heavily involved with developing and implementing the original incarnation of the Division’s Strategic Plan.  Within that first plan, Dan was given the all important task of developing the Groundhog Program(!).  Unfortunately, to this day, virtually none of the recommendations that came out of that effort have been adopted.  Later on as District Wildlife Management Supervisor, Dan served on several important committees including the Deer Damage Procedure Revision Committee and the Wildlife Area Management Committee.             In 2006 Dan was promoted to District One Manager.  Throughout his entire career and on every level Dan always stayed true to the Division of Wildlife’s mission and the wildlife resource.  He continually looked at issues from many sides and was always responsive to constituents.  His ability to play the “Devils Advocate” for any situation was without peer.  He always knew the right question to ask to get you to think through the problem logically and completely.  He was a fair, honest, reliable and respected leader.  Dan was always willing to jump in and get his hands dirty regardless of the task at hand and his current supervisory position.  During his career he gave countless talks to groups, interviews with the media, and one-on-one contacts to promote wildlife conservation to the public.  Besides his influence on the public, he was (and continues to be) a mentor for many Division of Wildlife employees who are current and future leaders within the Division.    Jim Kerr, retired teacher/wildlife education center curator/conservation volunteer, Lisbon Jim Kerr is a retired Columbiana County, Ohio high school Biology teacher who is not retired at all. He maintains an extremely busy schedule working locally with the Friends of Beaver Creek, who care for the Beaver Creek Wildlife Education Center in East Liverpool, Ohio.   Mr. Kerr is the volunteer Curator of the Center. He, along with his staff of dedicated volunteers, educates hundreds of area school children and families about native wildlife in Ohio. Outside of spending endless hours maintaining the Center’s 300+ animal mounts, expanding its outstanding exhibits, locating grant monies, and teaching at the Center, Mr. Kerr volunteers his time educating adults at various conferences, educator workshops, and other similar events throughout the state. Mr. Kerr’s passion for conserving nature and its wild creatures shines through each time he participates in an event, and his students regularly give him rave reviews.  When he’s not teaching or spending time at the Education Center, Mr. Kerr is fulfilling his duties as Vice President of Friends for the Preservation of Ohio State Parks, a statewide support group that helps to protect Ohio’s natural places. Mr. Kerr’s voluminous conservation-related efforts thus far have been acknowledged by the prestigious Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ 2007 Cardinal Award.  Please consider Mr. Jim Kerr as a recipient for the 2011 OFWMA “Achievement Award”. Mr. Kerr’s influence in the Buckeye State has helped to inspire individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and interest levels to care more about Ohio’s precious natural resources and the great need to always use them wisely so that they can be enjoyed for generations to come.    Dan Kramer, wildlife management supervisor, Division of Wildlife, Akron In his thirty years as an ODOW employee Dan has worked on the Bald Eagle Program, the Peregrine Falcon program, the Snowshoe Hare reintroduction, and probably the most difficult and under appreciated accomplishment Dan has worked with municipalities and park districts in Northern Ohio to create acceptable and effective whitetail deer management programs in highly urbanized areas. I worked directly with Dan and other ODOW personnel on urban deer projects and it is important to understand the perseverance necessary to endure years of personal and political attacks while maintaining a professional demeanor and sticking to an objective. Dan was consistently beaten up in local media stories, but eventually wore down the opposition with an ongoing application of science based facts and results. Guys like Dan are the field sergeants of wildlife management and rarely get the recognition they deserve. A life time achievement award may be more appropriate, but please consider Dan for your annual achievement award.   Míme Migliore, nature education coordinator, City of Dublin Along with teaching close to 30,000 Dublin residents, Mime has been committed to educating Dublin’s staff and community leaders throughout Ohio about wildlife.  She strives to improve the understanding and value of wildlife and the need for local government and resident involvement in creating healthy ecosystems.  Because of her efforts, the City of Dublin became the first community in Ohio certified by the National Wildlife Federation in 2010.  In 2008, Míme started the Franklin County Wildlife Roundtable in which she asked the State of Ohio, Division of Wildlife to partner in educating Franklin County government leaders.  In 2010 Míme, along with the Division of Wildlife asked the Ohio Sate University extension to join this partnership in expanding this initiative to create a state wide conference for local government leaders. The Ohio Community Wildlife Cooperative conference took place on November 16, 2010 at the Division of Wildlife, district one office. Forty-three participants heard from top researchers about deer, coyote, zoonoses, Canada geese, and ways in which the state can support local efforts. The post conference survey reflected a high level of satisfaction and 100 percent stated they would attend a future conference.  Due to the success of this program, the Division of Wildlife recently placed this program in their ten year master plan. It has been Míme’s goal to educate government leaders and encourage them to understand their role as the primary contact for private landholders and also as leaders in development.  It is her thought that just as local governments have become involved and gained knowledge about water quality that eventually communities will see the importance of involvement with wildlife issues. Míme has a B.A. in Biology from Ohio Wesleyan Univsersity and obtained a M.S. from Lesley University in Massachusettes, where she studied the Gulf of Maine bioregion and focussed on ecological teaching and learning.                                       Carolyn Caldwell receiving the award for 2010 Previous Award Recipients Year Recipient 1953 Gene Knoder 1954 Ben Anderson 1955 Clarence Clark 1956 No Award Given* 1957 No Award Given* 1958 No Award Given* 1959 No Award Given* 1960 Ed Brown 1961 No Award Given* 1962 Dave Hanselman 1963 No Award Given* 1964 Chuck Nixon 1965 Jerry Manz 1966 William Martin 1967 Al Cannon 1968 Dean Now 1969 Darrell Allison 1970 Clarence Clark 1971 Ken Laub 1972 Tony Peterle 1973 Bob Donohoe 1974 Frank Brown 1975 No Award Given* 1976 Warren Crabbe 1977 G. Honchul 1978 Bob Sturgeon 1979 Al Talbott 1980 Clancy Miller 1981 No Award Given* 1982 Bob Stoll 1983 Robert Ford 1984 Dr. Gene Good 1985 Karl Bednarik 1986 Carl Baker & Mike Budzik 1987 Merrill Gillifan & Dale Whitesell 1988 Paul Schiff 1989 Denis Case 1990 Ralph Ramey 1991 Gildo Tori 1992 Sara Jean Peters 1993 Dr. Ted Bookhout 1994 Pat Ruble 1995 John Daugherty 1996 Dave Risley 1997 John Clem 1998 Gary Isbell 1999 Dave Scott 2000 Steve Wilcox 2001 Brian Armitage 2002 Gene Whitten 2003 Mike Budzik 2004 Tom Stockdale 2005 No Award Given* 2006 No Award Given* 2007 Tom Henry 2008 Steve Gray 2009 Alan Dieter            2010           Carolyn Caldwell *No nominations were submitted to the Executive Committee to consider for the Annual Achievement Award. Therefore, the honor was not bestowed.
The Ohio Fish and Wildlife Management Association objectives are to foster, promote, and practice wildlife research and management; to sponsor an annual Ohio Fish and Wildlife Conference and other meetings that bring together people of diverse wildlife interests and backgrounds; and to present annually an award in recognition of an outstanding contribution to wildlife research and management in Ohio.