VINCENNES, Ind. – May 28, 2007 – Ducks Unlimited (DU) volunteer Ray McCormick was honored as Indiana Volunteer Conservationist of the Year on April 21, during DU’s annual state convention in Indianapolis. Each year the award is presented by the DU Great Lakes/Atlantic Regional Office to recognize and show appreciation for exceptional conservation and fundraising efforts on the part of a volunteer who has helped to advance DU’s mission in Indiana.
McCormick has been a long-time DU supporter and member of the Vincennes Chapter, and he has made significant contributions to the completion of several wetland conservation projects in Indiana. For nearly three decades, he has taken a hands-on approach to wetland restoration, providing consulting, design and construction services for more than 10,000 project acres in Indiana, Illinois, Montana and Washington state. He played a major role in the acquisition and restoration of the Wilder Wetlands Reserve Program/Goose Pond project, improving nearly 8,000 acres of wetlands and associated upland habitat in Greene County, Ind. McCormick also donated time and equipment to the Interior Least Tern unit, a unique 55-acre nesting area designed for the federally endangered interior least tern, part of the Cane Ridge Wildlife Management Area in Gibson County, Ind.
McCormick also has played a critical role for DU in wetlands conservation policy issues for nearly 20 years. He took part in President Bush’s Domestic Policy Advisory Council on No Net Loss of Wetlands and he helped formulate the 1990 Farm Bill conservation title. McCormick’s voice is still being heard in Washington, D.C., with his participation in the upcoming DU-sponsored farmer fly-ins to support the reauthorization of the Farm Bill and its conservation provisions in 2007. McCormick also is an active member and partner on the Southwest Indiana Four Rivers North American Waterfowl Management Plan committee, providing oversight on four $1 million North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants targeting waterfowl protection and habitat restoration in southwest Indiana.
On his own property, McCormick has improved significant portions for the benefit of nesting and migrating waterfowl and other wetland-dependent wildlife. He is owner and operator of McCormick Farms Inc., maintaining 4,000 acres of grain farmland in Knox County, Ind., and Lawrence County, Ill. He also has operated a waterfowl hunting guide service since 1997.
“Ray McCormick and volunteers like him are critical to the success of Ducks Unlimited,” said Mike Sertle, DU regional biologist for Indiana. “Ray has been instrumental in the long-term success of our volunteer fund-raising efforts in southwest Indiana and has been a catalyst for a tremendous amount of important wetland conservation in the state.”
McCormick has been honored many times over the years by other organizations, companies and state and federal agencies that place a high value on wetland conservation. Along with his most recent achievements as DU’s Indiana Volunteer Conservationist of the Year and the Indiana Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ Conservation Farmer of the Year, McCormick has been recognized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with its National Wetlands Conservation Award in 1991 and by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources as Conservationist of the Year in 1988.
Contact: Kristin Schrader
Public Affairs Coordinator
734.623.2000
kschrader@ducks.org
With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization, with almost 12 million acres conserved. The United States has lost more than half of its original wetlands—nature’s most productive ecosystem—and continues to lose more than 80,000 acres each year.