On November 4th, 2015, Audubon New York presented the Thomas W. Keesee, Jr. Conservation Award to Honeywell for its leadership in one of the most ambitious environmental reclamation projects in the United States -- the cleanup, restoration and return of Onondaga Lake to the Central New York community as a healthy, sustainable asset for future generations. The Thomas W. Keesee, Jr. Award is Audubon’s highest award for a leader championing conservation in New York. The annual award is named in honor of Thomas W. Keesee, Jr., a long-time advocate of Audubon’s grassroots legacy.
This year’s event was held at the Metropolitan Club and also included the presentation of the inaugural Audubon Environmental Writing Award to Author Scott Weidensaul. Created in 2015, the Audubon New York Award for Environmental Writing recognizes writers who use the power of the pen to influence positive change in the world of environmental conservation in support of Audubon’s mission.
Click here to make a donation in honor of Honeywell or Scott Weidensaul.
To view the honoree video, which highlights Honeywell's impressive work, click here.
Honoring Honeywell with the 2015 Thomas W. Keesee, Jr. Conservation Award
A leader in one of the most ambitious environmental reclamation projects in the United States, Honeywell is working closely with its Central New York partners, including Audubon New York, to return Onondaga Lake to the community as a healthy, sustainable asset for future generations. The result of more than two decades and millions of hours of intensive effort under the supervision of state and federal regulatory agencies, and in cooperation with local elected officials and the community, capping and habitat restoration are scheduled to be finished in 2016. In November 2014, Honeywell completed lake dredging a year ahead of schedule, and in 2015, the lake, which is classified as an Audubon Important Bird Area, was celebrated with a symbolic lake swim attended by hundreds of community members. Since dredging activities began in July 2012, more than 147 species of fish, birds, and mammals have returned to the Onondaga Lake watershed. About 1.1 million plants, shrubs, and trees are being planted as part of habitat restoration efforts and to date, 50 acres of wetlands have been restored. As a founding partner of the Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps and head of the design and construction of the Onondaga Lake Visitors Center, Honeywell has proven its commitment to serving the local community and regional ecosystem.
Honoring Scott Weidensaul with the Inaugural Audubon Award for Environmental Writing
Scott Weidensaul is the author of more than two dozen books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist "Living on the Wind," about bird migration, as well as "Return to Wild America," "Of a Feather" and "The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery and Endurance in Early America." His newest book, "The Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean," part of the legendary Peterson Field Guide series, will be published in October. He is a contributing editor for Audubon magazine and has written for a wide variety of other publications.
Weidensaul is an active field researcher focusing on bird migration. Since 1998, he has overseen one of the largest Saw-whet Owl migration studies in the country, through the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in central Pennsylvania, which he helped found. He is a director of Project Owlnet, co-founder Project SNOWstorm, and one of fewer than 200 licensed hummingbird banders in North America.
*Click here for details on each of these awards.
For more information, please contact Lynn O'Malley at 518-869-9731 or lomalley@audubon.org
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