On December 3, Samuel Weber Jr., chairman of the Oswego County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) presented Charles Parker, president of the Oswego County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs with a Special Service Award from the New York Association of Conservation Districts for continued outstanding support of Oswego SWCD educational programs.
    Incorporated in 1947, the Oswego County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs has twenty-one member clubs and a combined membership of over two-thousand members. They are dedicated to “promoting environmental awareness, sponsoring youth and educators to camp, and supporting and sponsoring issues that will protect the future of hunting, fishing, and trapping for future generations”. On an annual basis the Federation supports every major environmental education event coordinated by the Oswego County Soil and Water Conservation District. Each year in April, the District works with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County to distribute tree seedlings and educational materials to 5,000 Oswego County students in grades kindergarten through twelve. The Federation, knowing the importance of teaching our young people about natural resources, provides funding for a portion of the seedlings and educational materials. In May, the Oswego County Envirothon takes place. It is a hands-on environmental competition for high school students. Each of the five members of the first place team at the Envirothon receives a $100.00 Hank Cosselman Memorial Scholarship from the Federation. The scholarship is award upon the student’s graduation from high school and enrollment into an institute of higher learning. This represents an annual investment of $500.00 by the Federation toward the education of our future decision makers. In additional to the scholarships, they also provide manpower for the event. Several of their members attend the event each year as exam givers, judges, and staff. The third major activity the Federation supports is Oswego County’s largest single-day environmental education program, the Conservation Field Day (CFD). CFD provides an opportunity for Oswego County fifth graders to attend five different natural resource presentations at Selkirk Shores State Park. Approximately four hundred and twenty five students participate each year. The Federation makes a donation toward the CFD lunch that is provided for more than forty presenters and volunteers who make the event possible. In addition to the funding, ten to fifteen of the presenters and volunteers are members of the Federation or its affiliated clubs.
    For continued support of these programs, the Oswego County Soil and Water Conservation District nominated the Oswego County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs for the New York Association of Conservation Districts Special Service Award. According to SWCD educator Erica Schreiner “We are pleased the Oswego County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs was selected for this prestigious award and we look forward to a continued partnership with them”.

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