Howell and Riddle Saluted With WWF Awards

by Nancy Debevoise

WOC board members Liz Howell and Phil Riddle were honored with conservation awards at the Wyoming Wildlife Federation’s annual awards banquet in Story on May 15.

Liz received the Federation’s highest honor: Conservationist of the Year. The award citation reads, in part:
"Liz is a long-time conservation activist who has dedicated much of her time to protecting roadless areas in the Big Horn Mountains and expanding and safeguarding BLM wilderness areas throughout the state.

"She has developed and coordinated an impressive number of local, state, regional and national conservation campaigns over the years, including "Wilderness at Risk," a citizens’ proposal for wilderness designation on 1.1 million acres of Wyoming BLM Lands and a protection plan for the Medicine Wheel, a Native American sacred site in the Bighorns.

"Liz has lobbied for state and national conservation legislation for 15 years, including grassroots organizing to enact the Wyoming Wilderness bill, coalition building to strengthen the Wyoming Conservation Network and direct lobbying of members of the U.S. Congress and the Wyoming State Legislature.

"For her unselfish dedication to protecting and enhancing Wyoming’s wildlife and wildlands, her exemplary conservation leadership and her tireless organizing, lobbying and fundraising efforts, the Federation is very proud to honor Liz Howell with its 1998-99 Conservationist of the Year Award."

WOC board vice president Phil Riddle, as a co-founder of WILDPAC, accepted the Federation’s Conservation Organization of the Year award.  The award citation reads, in part:
"Many in the conservation movement have become increasingly alarmed at the privatization and commercialization of the public’s natural resources. On many fronts, those who stand to profit financially from resource exploitation are free to do so, at the expense of our natural heritage and the rights of average citizens.

"The Wyoming Wildlife Federation believes that wildlife belongs to everyone and that all citizens should have equal access to it. WILDPAC was founded by Phil Riddle and Robert Hoskins to aggressively oppose the ever-increasing attack on the public’s wildlife and hunters’ rights. The political action committee’s goal is to pass legislation which will underscore and strengthen the Public Trust Doctrine.

"In the last session of the Wyoming Legislature, WILDPAC drafted Senate File 117, a bill which would have prevented the privatization of wildlife. Although the bill was killed by the Senate Majority Leader, WILDPAC and its dedicated supporters will continue to lobby for public-trust legislation.

"WWF is proud to honor WILDPAC as the 1998-99 Conservation Organization of the Year for its leadership on this vital issue. WILDPAC, lead on!"

This is the second year in a row that the Federation has recognized a WOC board or staff member for conservation leadership. Last year, the Federation saluted WOC executive director Dan Heilig as its Conservationist of the Year.