2024 Conservation Achievement Awards
Honoring Excellence
Conservation Achievement Award Recepients
Since 1960, Arkansas Wildlife Federation (AWF) has recognized Arkansas’ outstanding conservation leaders through our Conservation Achievement Awards. Each category represents a vital contribution to the conservation and preservation of wildlife and natural resources in the state.
We are pleased to highlight our most recent awardees.
Ellen Turner
Harold Alexander Lifetime Achievement Award
This is the highest conservation achievement award presented by the Arkansas Wildlife Federation. This award is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to the conservation of wildlife and natural resources in Arkansas over their lifetime.
Ellen Turner is a native Arkansas with a lifelong interest in natural science which she attributes to her outdoor upbringing in Hope, AR. Throughout her long career as a high school and college science teacher in Northwest Arkansas, Ellen earned many accolades. She served on the founding board of directors for the Ozark Natural Science Center (ONSC) and is a regular teacher for the Arkansas Master Naturalist Program. Ellen was first appointed to the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission in 1987 by then-Governor Bill Clinton. She has served as a commissioner for a total of 21 years, including as chairman of the commission during her second term. As one of her many contributions, she and her husband, Tom McClure, led a successful effort to purchase an additional 2.5 acres of virgin prairie which was added to the Searles Prairie Natural Area in Rogers, AR in 2019.
Jeff Wardlaw
Rex Hancock Conservation Advocate Award
This award is given to an individual, group, or agency that has made significant contributions to the conservation of wildlife and natural resources through advocacy.
A lifelong resident of Bradley County, AR, Jeff Wardlaw leverages his more than 14 years of legislative experience in the Arkansas House of Representatives to advocate for meaningful policies that benefit ducks and duck hunters. He joined Delta Waterfowl as a senior manager of government affairs for the southern portions of the Mississippi and Central Flyways. Jeff has played an active role in the Arkansas Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus since 2011. Having served multiple terms on the Executive Council of the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses, Jeff continues to champion the interests of sportsmen and women across the nation.
Rex Nelson
Carol Griffee Conservation Communicator Award
This award recognizes the outstanding efforts of an Arkansas-based journalist, communicator, or media firm that has made significant contributions in communicating wildlife and related natural resource conservation information to the public in Arkansas.
Rex Nelson is one of the most high-profile writers and speakers in the state. As senior editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, he writes three columns a week and essays for the cover of the newspaper’s Sunday Perspective section. He’s the author of three books as well as a popular blog known as Rex Nelson’s Southern Fried. He also hosts the Southern Fried podcast and makes regular television and radio appearances. Nelson served for almost a decade as the policy and communications director for Gov. Mike Huckabee and then served for four years in the administration of President George W. Bush as one of the president’s two appointees to the Delta Regional Authority. He has been inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the Arkansas Rural Development Commission named Nelson as its Rural Advocate of the Year for the state of Arkansas. Rex often uses his platform as a writer and public speaker to highlight the importance of conservation and preservation efforts in the Natural State.
David Luker
Conservation Leadership Award
This award is given to an individual, group, or agency that has made significant contributions to the conservation of wildlife and natural resources in Arkansas by demonstrating outstanding leadership in their field. Recipients may work in the field of wildlife biology, enforcement, forestry, water conservation, or related profession.
David Luker is a native Arkansan from the Star City, AR area. He started his professional career with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) shortly after receiving his forestry degree from the University of Arkansas at Monticello in 2003. David spent 20 years as a habitat and field biologist on several Wildlife Management Areas in southeast Arkansas. As the lead manager on Little Bayou Wildlife Management Area, David successfully brought quail back through habitat restoration creating a demonstration site for successful quail management. David was recently promoted to Assistant Chief for the Wildlife Management Division at AGFC where he leads conservation activities on wildlife management areas in 41 counties in south and east Arkansas.
Doug Osborne
Conservation Educator Award
This award is given to a professional or volunteer educator, firm, or agency (formal or non-formal) that has made significant contributions to conservation education in Arkansas.
Dr. Douglas Osborne is a professor of wildlife management within the University of Arkansas system including research with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and a teaching appointment with the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Research in his lab centers around factors influencing continental and regional shifts in waterfowl distributions, including declining habitat quality, forest restoration, population dynamics, and more. He is the former director and current Graduate Coordinator for the Waterfowl Habitat and Recreation Management graduate certificate program as part of the University’s public-private partnership with the Five Oaks Ag Research and Education Center in Humphrey, AR. After graduating, his students work in the field of conservation and management for state, federal, and non-profit organizations.
Quail Forever in Arkansas
Outstanding Conservation Partner Award
Quail Forever in Arkansas is the state arm of the national Pheasants Forever, Inc. and Quail Forever, a nationwide 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization. Quail Forever in Arkansas collaborates directly with nongovernmental, governmental, nonprofit, university, corporate, and volunteer partners to achieve their mission of restoring and creating habitat for Northern bobwhite quail and other wildlife in Arkansas’ uplands. Quail Forever in Arkansas also strives to be a leader in prescribed fire, Monarch butterfly and pollinator conservation, open woodland and grassland management, and incentive-based conservation programs for private landowners. Quail Forever in Arkansas supports a strong chapter-volunteer presence and is focused on using a highly collaborative, science-based approach to support their many wildlife habitat conservation efforts across the state.
Congratulations to these outstanding conservationists! We are proud to honor their far-reaching impacts to wildlife conservation in Arkansas.