MEMPHIS, Tennessee Oct. 7, 2019 Dr. W. Alan Wentz was recognized with the Aldo Leopold Memorial Award for distinguished service to wildlife conservation in Reno, Nev., on Oct. 1, at the joint meeting of The Wildlife Society and the American Fisheries Society.

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The Aldo Leopold Memorial Award, first given in 1950, is the highest award given for service in wildlife conservation and is given to one person each year.

I am honored and humbled by this award, Wentz said. Growing up exploring the outdoors in Hardin County and other parts of Ohio made me curious to learn more. The Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area in Wyandot County was one of my favorite places due to the diversity of wildlife, especially waterfowl, found there and when I learned you could study wildlife conservation in college, I knew that was the only thing I wanted to do for my career. I have been extraordinarily lucky to have held important positions in the wildlife field and worked with leaders at the national and international levels. None of that would have been possible without the support of my family, the excellent training I received in Kenton City Schools and the Ohio State University and from people who mentored me as a kid and in the positions I have held.

In his long and notable career, Wentz served as a professor of wildlife sciences at South Dakota State University, director of fisheries and wildlife at the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, DC, and assistant secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. He spent the final 20 years of his career as chief conservation officer of Ducks Unlimited.

Congratulations to Dr. Wentz on receiving this award, said DU Chief Operating Officer Nick Wiley, His tremendous accomplishments in the conservation arena place him in rarefied air with previous recipients of this most prestigious conservation award. Throughout his 20 years with Ducks Unlimited, Dr. Wentz was a major force for elevating and expanding conservation programs and delivering on DUs vision of filling the skies with waterfowl. A brief glance at A Sand County Almanac with all the references to ducks, geese and migrating birds will confirm that Aldo Leopold himself would surely approve of Dr. Wentz receiving this award.

Wentz graduated from Kenton Senior High School in 1965 and was inducted into the Kenton City Schools Hall of Fame in May 2018. He also was recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University in 1999, and elected to the register of distinguished graduates of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University in 2010.

He has received numerous other awards and recognitions in his profession over the past 40 years. Wentz also served as president of The Wildlife Society in 1992-93 and has been a board member and chairman of the board for numerous non-profit conservation organizations.

For more information visit www.ducks.org, and be sure to follow DUs newest Twitter feed @DUNews1937 to get the most up-to-date news from Ducks Unlimited.

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 14 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org.

Media Contact:
Gregg Powers
901-758-3774
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