New York Mixed Bag: Darwin Roosa honored with DEC’s Wayne W. Jones Award

Delanson, N.Y. — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently awarded long-time hunter safety instructor Darwin Roosa, of Albany County with DEC’s Wayne W. Jones Award of Excellence.

The award recognizes Mr. Roosa’s outstanding contribution as a volunteer instructor with DEC’s Hunter Safety Program.

Roosa is the lead instructor for courses taught at Helderberg Rod and Gun Club, in Delanson and has certified hundreds of new hunters over several decades in this role. Mr. Roosa made recruiting and retaining instructors a primary focus of his involvement in the HEP.

Hi is also involved in public and environmental education in both his professional and personal life, spending several summers as a DEC environmental camp counselor and taught earth science and biology in New York State schools before holding several environmental education positions with DEC. He went on to work in communications and training at the New York State Office of Employee Relations and continued involvement with education and training in his retirement through the HEP, Albany Pine Bush Preserve, and other ventures.

MORE COVERAGE FROM NEW YORK OUTDOOR NEWS:

Dan Ladd: Hoping the New York legislature doesn’t cry wolf

Youth hunters ready to jump-start New York’s spring gobbler season

Whirling disease outbreak at New York hatchery will impact stocking of brook trout

BALD EAGLE BANDED IN N.Y. SPOTTED IN GEORGIA

Holland, N.Y. — In February 2025, DEC Wildlife staff received a report of a bald eagle banded in New York that was photographed alive and well in the state of Georgia.

The bird was rescued as a hatch-year male from the nearshore waters of Lake Erie in Chautauqua County in May of 2021, likely having fledged from a nearby cliff-top nest. It made a full recover from rehabilitation efforts, including a final stay at Messinger Woods Wildlife Care and Education in Holland. On Aug. 18, 2021, DEC Wildlife staff banded the eagle. It was released a month later near where it was found.

In February 2025 DEC received a report of this eagle alive and well in Georgia. Staff from Birds Georgia, a chapter of the National Audubon Society, photographed the bird in October 2024 as it perched on a sand dune along the Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Wildlife staff band eagles to help gather valuable information on movements, ranges, survival, and mortality. Each bird receives two bands, one on each leg: a state color band with a field-readable alphanumeric code and a silver federal band with a unique nine-digit number.