News Release: 2/12/2019
Meet Mohawk Hudson Land Conservatory:
Our 2019 Award Winners!
Each year, we celebrate the individuals who lead conservation in the Capital Region at our Annual Awards Dinner. This year, we've added a new award: the Young Leader Award. Meet our 2019 award winners:
Jessica Ottney Mahar will be awarded the Saving Special Places Award for significant contribution to land conservation in the Capital Region. Jessica is Policy Director for The Nature Conservancy in New York. As a member of MHLC, she volunteers regularly at the Ashford Glen Preserve in Colonie and serves on MHLC's Next Gen committee, working to engage the next generation of conservationists with the Conservancy and our work. We interviewed Jessica in October 2018 about her passion for conservation in the Capital Region: read the interview by clicking here.
The Art on the Rail Trail (ART) Committee will be awarded the Dan Driscoll Leadership Award for giving outstanding time and energy to advance the mission of MHLC. The ART committee enriches the lives of visitors to the Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail by placing public pieces of art along the trail. Learn more about the important work of the ART Committee on our webpage.
Ava DeSantis will be awarded the Young Leader Award for giving outstanding time and energy to advance the mission of MHLC. Ava, a senior at Doane Stuart High School, has raised thousands of dollars for the Conservancy by painting faces at the Delmar Farmer's Market. In 2018 she hosted an Environmental Awareness 5k on the Rail Trail with all proceeds going to MHLC. Learn more about Ava on the MHLC blog or by reading page 3 of our Fall 2017 newsletter.
These volunteers are part of the community of dedicated individuals who make our conservation work possible. Are you interested in volunteering with MHLC? Visit our Volunteer Page to learn more and fill out an online application.