Seven inducted into Ohio DNR Hall of Fame

Columbus — The Ohio DNR (ODNR) recently celebrated and honored Ohioans for their lifetime achievements in conservation and protection of Ohio’s natural resources with a ceremony to honor Ohio Natural Resources Hall of Fame inductees and to recognize Cardinal Award winners.

“The Natural Resources Hall of Fame is the highest honor conservationists who call Ohio home can receive,” said ODNR Director Mary Mertz. “Each year, we celebrate the writers, researchers, and leaders who capture what it means to be an advocate for our state’s natural resources. We hope this honor inspires future generations of Ohioans to protect our great outdoors.”

The Ohio Natural Resources Hall of Fame award was created in 1966 to celebrate individuals who have made significant contributions to protecting Ohio’s natural resources. With today’s inductions, the number of people presented with this honor is 200.

New Ohio Natural Resources Hall of Fame inductees are as follows:

Jean Beaty

Jean Beaty was the first woman ever appointed to the Ohio Wildlife Council, starting her tenure in 1975. She served on the council for 24 years, making her one of the longest-serving members since the council’s founding in 1974. While on the council, she represented both farming and wildlife interests, acquiring new wildlife areas, establishing a dove hunting season, and revitalizing populations of some of Ohio’s most iconic native species, including bald eagles, wild turkey, white-tailed deer, and walleye. She passed away in 2021, but her accomplishments will be remembered forever.

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Paul Brooks

From his childhood involvement in 4-H to his work as board chair of the League of Ohio Sportsmen, Paul Brooks has a years-long connection to Ohio’s natural resources and outdoors. He has dedicated more than 30 years to the conservation of Ohio’s natural resources through youth education, community outreach, and legislative advocacy. He recognizes the importance of conservation and education at all levels – he organizes and leads youth programs such as Junior Anglers Camp and Coonskin Cap Brigades alongside working with the governor’s office and federal legislators.

Cheryl Harner

Cheryl Harner was a founding board member of the Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association, remaining on the board until her passing in 2024. She was also a commissioner for the Richland County Parks district and a field trip leader and lecturer for the Midwest Native Plant Society. What many people close to her consider her crowning achievement, however, was her founding of Flora-Quest with her close friend Paula Harper. Flora-Quest was an ecotourism organization that brought people to Ohio’s outdoors by sponsoring weekend-long educational trips and workshops highlighting our state’s rich biological diversity.

William Stuart Lewis Sr.

Ohio’s Scenic River Program rested on the shoulders of William Stuart “Stu” Lewis Sr. for the 30-plus years he worked for ODNR. Stu was ODNR’s Division of Natural Areas and Preserves first Scenic Rivers employee, leading the charge to protect the many rivers that run across Ohio. During his decades of service, he oversaw the Scenic Rivers program from a fledgling branch of DNAP to a program recognized across the state for its contributions to protecting our state’s most valuable natural resource – water. He became the Ohio’s Scenic Rivers program chief in 1999, a position he earned after spending more than 25 years in different roles all within the rivers program.

Elaine Marsh

Elaine Marsh has spent a lifetime sharing her love for Erie County and the waterways in northern Ohio with the public for years. Marsh is an award-winning conservationist who continues to be at the forefront of protecting rivers. In 1989, she co-founded Friends of the Crooked River, a grassroots group dedicated to the Cuyahoga River, for which she currently serves as Conservation Director. She also works as a watershed specialist for Summit Metro Parks, where she assists ODNR with projects that enhance water quality in the county and to represent the park in community efforts that advance water resources. Throughout her career, she has served on many boards and commissions, including Great Lakes United, the Discover Ohio Water Trails Partnership and the Ohio Science Advisory Board for Environmental Health and Protection.

David Nolin

David Nolin worked as the director of conservation at Five Rivers MetroParks in the Dayton Area from 1984 to 2015, a position where he oversaw restoration projects, wildlife protection, and land acquisitions – Nolin negotiated and closed on over 7,000 acres of new natural areas and conservation easements for the MetroParks during that time. During his time as director of conservation, he also spent much of his personal time championing new, community-based conservation solutions and organizations. In 1988, he was one of the leaders in founding the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association, a series of interconnected wetlands that together create a 15-mile-long wetland corridor. Today, he is the president of the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association and continues to volunteer with conservation organizations and park districts.

Harvey Webster

Harvey Webster is a premier conservationist, spending half a century working for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as the Chief Wildlife Officer and Museum Ambassador. Harvey oversaw the Perkins Wildlife Center and Woods Garden – one of Ohio’s largest collections of native wildlife and the museum’s largest public gallery and exhibit space and directed the Wildlife Resource Center. His most important contribution to Ohio’s natural resources, however, was his role in revitalizing the bald eagle population in Ohio. Harvey applied the same methods Dr. Tom Cade used to revive America’s peregrine falcon population, creating a one-of-a-kind population restoration program for bald eagles in the state at the time that helped bring bald eagles back from extinction in Ohio.

The Cardinal Awards

In addition to the Hall of Fame inductions, ODNR also presented the Cardinal Award to six Ohioans. The Cardinal Award, created in 1971, honors individuals and organizations that demonstrate exceptional awareness and concern for ideals reflected in the department’s mission statement: To ensure a balance between the wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all.

Cardinal Award recipients have included outdoor writers, educators, farmers, biologists, naturalists, businesses, sporting organizations, and volunteers across the state of Ohio. The award winners are as follows:

Black Swamp Bird Observatory

Black Swamp Bird Observatory has been researching and educating the public since its founding in 1992. The observatory hosts the Biggest Week in American Birding Festival, an internationally recognized event that attracts thousands of visitors from across the world to Maumee Bay State Park and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area for a week in spring. During its day-to-day operations, the observatory offers educational programs for kids and recreational opportunities where you can see the wildlife of northwestern Ohio up close.

Willie Franklin

Willie Franklin is a volunteer leader with Outdoor Afro, a nonprofit organization aimed at connecting black people with nature and a wide variety of recreational opportunities. Based in Columbus, Franklin has worked with ODNR multiple times to organize and plan events in Ohio’s great outdoors. These events have welcomed black people across Ohio to participate in a wide range of recreational activities, including hiking, fishing, and even stream quality monitoring.

Dale Gnidovec

Dale Gnidovec is the collections manager of the Orton Geological Museum, leading programs for more than 150 groups each year. At Orton, he oversees more than 54,000 different fossils, gives guided tours, and maintains its exhibits. He led the Statehouse Fossil Tour Programs with the ODNR Division of Geological Survey, providing free educational experiences to each participant. He also teaches a course at Ohio State University and previously wrote a geology and paleontology themed column published in The Columbus Dispatch.

Phil Hillman

Phil Hillman was an ODNR Division of Wildlife employee who spent 37 years pioneering conservation efforts in our fisheries. Often referred to as the “father of Ohio’s Steelhead,” Hillman created the steelhead trout program with Kevin Kayle, developing a world-class steelhead fishery that supplies more than 450,000 fish in Lake Erie tributaries. Hillman also expanded ODNR connections to other fisheries beyond Ohio’s borders. He passed away in 2017, but his legacy is still alive and well.

Vicki Proctor

For more than four decades, Vicki Proctor promoted the outdoors to future generations through her work with Girl Scout organizations across the country. She spent more than 30 years serving Girl Scout councils in Oklahoma before returning to her home state of Ohio to work with Girl Scouts of Western Ohio for more than a decade. She encouraged safe outdoor recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic and developed comprehensive hiking programs across several Girl Scout troops. In retirement, she serves as the Buckeye Trail Association’s Caesar Creek Section Supervisor and is an active member of the organization Becoming an Outdoor Woman (BOW).

Dan Yaussy

Dan Yaussy has pioneered forestry research and conservation for decades, making educating other forest management professionals his top priority. Starting in the mid-1990s, Yaussy advocated for the protection of Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest, authored more than 70 articles for forestry journals, and led several studies that are still shaping forestry research today.