LITTLE ROCK - Nearly a dozen outstanding conservationists and natural-resource organizations from throughout the state will honored at the upcoming Arkansas Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Awards Banquet. The event will be held Aug. 18 at the Holiday Inn Select in west Little Rock.

A reception will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the banquet and awards ceremony.  The public is invited to attend. The event will conclude at 9:30 p.m., and the attire is business casual. The guest speaker is Larry J. Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation, one of the largest conservation organizations in the world.

According to Terry Horton, executive director of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, this year's awards banquet will also honor the late Dr. Rex Hancock and his family. "Dr. Hancock, a Stuttgart dentist, led the successful efforts to stop the Corps of Engineers from channelizing Cache River 30 yeas ago," Horton said. "His efforts are directly responsible for tens of thousands of acres of bottomland forests being protected. If the Cache would have been drained, there would not have been suitable habitat available for the newly discovered Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Dr. Hancock led the organization, Citizens Committee to Save the Cache River Basin, and he was a former president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation," Horton explained.

Nearly five decades ago, the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation, began the awards program to honor outstanding volunteers and professionals in the natural resources field. This year's awards banquet is co-sponsored by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas Environmental Federation, Remington Arms, SBC, the Arkansas Forestry Association, AWF Director Fred Wiseman and many others.

The organization, Citizens Protecting Maumelle Watershed, is receiving the top award this year, the Harold Alexander Award-Conservationist of the Year. The group, led by Kate Althoff, of Little Rock, organized a coalition that successfully fought a bill in the Arkansas Legislature that would have allowed a large scale housing development in the Lake Maumelle Watershed. Lake Maumelle is the primary water supply for more than 360,000 central Arkansas residents.

Another award winner, Gene Sparling, is the now famous kayaker who first spotted the thought-to-be-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge last year.

Listed below are all of the award winners:
** Citizens Protecting Maumelle Watershed: The Harold Alexander Award

Conservationist of the Year;

** Gene Sparling, of Hot Springs: The Rex Hancock Award-Wildlife Conservationist of the Year;

** Andy Thomas, of Dardanelle: Outstanding Natural Resource Professional of the Year;

** Janet Finch, of El Dorado: Hunter Education Instructor of the Year;

** Fulton County Conservation District: Conservation Organization of the Year;

** Michael Warriner, Little Rock: Conservation Educator of the Year;

** Gene Dunaway, of Mountain View: Water Conservationist of the Year;

** Farris and Sons Construction, of Marshall: Corporate Conservationist of the Year;

** Jim Woodruff, of Rogers: Forest Conservationist of the Year;