Winneshiek County Conservation's Larry Reis receives lifetime achievement award

The Iowa Association of Naturalists and the Iowa Conservation Education Coalition has given Winneshiek County Conservation naturalist Larry Reis the 2015 Aldo Leopold Award.  The statewide lifetime achievement award recognizes excellence and leadership in environmental education.

Reis has served Winneshiek County Conservation for more than thirty years.  Over the course of his career, he has given more than 7,500 conservation education programs reaching more than 200,000 people, from the youngest preschoolers to assisted living residents.  He was instrumental in the creation of Winneshiek County Conservation's education program and the restoration and development of Lake Meyer Park and other county lands.

A leading expert in regional natural history, Reis is also a hunter education instructor and compiler of the local Christmas Bird Counts.  He is the author of two books, "Noting Nature" and "Once a Trapper."

For more information on conservation education programming offered by Larry Reis and Winneshiek County Conservation, visit www.winneshiekwild.com or call (563) 534-7145.