Lockport man recognized for over 40,000 hours of volunteer service with local refuge

Oct. 21—BASOM — When Lockport native Carl Zenger first visited Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, he had already put in several years as an engineer at Harrison Radiator and was looking to pursue his longtime hobby of watching bluebirds.

It was around that time in 1997 that he ventured over to the refuge in neighboring Genesse County.

"This was about the closest place that there was, so I came down," Zenger recalled.

Now 85, Zenger quickly discovered a connection with the refuge's staff over their fondness of wildlife, which is what led to him to do more than just simply visit to watch bluebirds.

Now, more than 26 years later, Zenger is being recognized by the refuge and his peers for dedicating more than 40,000 hours of volunteer time to the organization.

In that span of time, Zenger has treated his role at the refuge like a full-time job, often working there five days a week. He has worn many hats at the refuge over the years including constructing bird houses, mowing the refuge's hundreds of acres and being an active member of its volunteer non-profit group, Friends of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, where he was a charter member and past president.

"I've had leadership positions there for a long time and I guess I'm kind of a sucker for that," he joked.

Over his 26 years, Zenger said his biggest accomplishment while at the refuge was organizing efforts to build the Swallow Hallow Trail, an elevated boardwalk trail that spans about 1.3 miles across the lands of the refuge.

"We coordinated the financial aspect of (the roughly) $600,000 project. We got grants, monies and things to make that happen. I also worked in a lot of the labor on (constructing) it," Zenger said.

Paul Hess, the biologist from the refuge said that Zenger's longstanding volunteer efforts have immensely helped their operations over the past two decades. He said he trusts Zenger implicitly to handle the various different roles, responsibilities and programs at the refuge.

"(I) pretty much just let him run with it," Hess said. "He takes care of it. I kind of oversee it from a distance, but for the most part, he's doing all the work and even coordinating a lot of our other volunteers to make sure this stuff gets done every year."

While most of the birds have flown south for the winter, Zenger is focusing on construction of some more birdhouses and doing other preliminary activities for when much of the wildlife returns in the spring.

Zenger will be honored for his extensive volunteer service in a ceremony for the refuge's volunteers at its visitor's center. Zenger's family will also be donating a statue that will be displayed in the visitor center's garden.

His daughter Julie said the statue will depict the three birds the her father builds has built habitats for at the refuge over the years: a Bluebird, a Purple Martin and an American Kestrel.

While Zenger has achieved the 10,000 hour rule to master a subject four times over, he said each day he comes to the refuge presents him with a new experience.

"There's many things to learn. I learn something new everyday I come down here," he said.