Scout receives national conservation award

Warwick - Benjamin J. Pearce has received the William T. Hornaday Award from the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America for his work to help restore ring-necked pheasants to the Warwick area. The 16-year-old member of Troop 45 in Warwick proposed the project last January to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, division of Fish and Wildlife, which included his qualifications to raise birds within a suitable brooding facility along with a covered outdoor rearing pen. The day-old pheasant chicks were supplied by the Richard E. Reynolds Game Farm in upstate New York. “Young pheasants mature very quickly and the adult birds were released at summer’s end to a local 610-acre farm,” Pearce said. According to his project advisor, Ken Wojtak: “His care and tending resulted in just four chicks lost, an impressive 90 percent survival rate.” After four months, he released more than 30 adult birds in the field just north of Sanfordville Elementary School. The William T. Hornaday award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to conservation. It was begun in 1917 by Dr. William T. Hornaday, director of the New York Zoological Park and founder of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Hornaday was a champion of natural resource conservation and a leader in saving the American bison from extinction. The Hornaday Award is intended to recognize distinguished service to natural resource conservation. The award represents a substantial commitment of time and energy by individuals who have learned the meaning of conservation and an environmental ethic. Hornaday stated: “Unusual prizes are to be won only by unusual services.” But, according to Pearce, an Eagle Scout: “The feeling of releasing these beautiful birds into the wild, then seeing them thriving in their natural habitat, is reward enough for me.”