Outdoors enthusiast and educator Jerry Keys honored with local conservation award
Story County Conservation environmental education coordinator Jerry Keys was honored with the 2022 Olav Smedal Conservation Award for the service he provides residents of the county.
Former Story County Conservation Director Steve Lekwa and Iowa State University Emeritus Associate Professor Jim Pease nominated Keys for the award. Lekwa and Pease are both past winners.
Lekwa said Keys is someone all of Story County can be proud of.
"His leadership and creativity in his work has served the county for many years," Lekwa said. "He's started many outreach programs for children in the schools and the general public that have been statewide and national award winners themselves. Jerry has built one of the top education programs in the state."
The environmental education program works to inform residents on thoughtful uses of natural resources and minimize human impact on the environment, according to the Story County Conservation website. It offers school programming and public programming and is involved with the Iowa Junior Naturalist Program.
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In addition to his professional work, Lekwa said Keys has led several teams in the Iowa Youth Hunter Education Competition, which is "like a knowledge bowl, except on hunting issues," Lekwa said.
Despite the accolades from nominators, Keys said he was surprised he was nominated for the award.
"I think this award is for people who go above and beyond. But this is just what I do," he said. "This is who I am and this is my lifestyle."
Looking back at the previous award winners, Keys said he felt "honored" to be included among the other winners.
"This just proves that Story County is a conservation-minded county and a conservation-minded community. It's not just the county conservation board that's doing the work, it's the whole community," Keys said. "And the fact that it started at the newspaper level is just amazing."
Olav Smedal spent 22 years as an outdoor writer and 17 years as the outdoor editor for the Ames Tribune. The paper created the award in 1988 to recognize Smedal and those who demonstrate excellence in the conservation of natural resources and outdoor pursuits. Today, the Ames Chapter of the Izaak Walton League sponsors the award, an organization that Smedal helped create.
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A committee of members from the Ames Chapter of the Izaak Walton League and the Story County Conservation Board selects the annual recipient. A plaque recognizing all past award winners is displayed at the Story County Conservation Center, 56461 180th St.
Keys is the 35th recipient.
Looking ahead, Keys said that despite the conservation-minded community mindset he witnesses every day, the future will hold some challenges for Story County.
"Trying to balance conservation and development is probably the biggest challenge I can see," he said. "We all want our communities to grow and expand, but a lot of the time that expansion is in very special habitats that we need to protect."
Recent Olav Smedal Conservation Award winners include:
2011 — Tom Rosburg
2012 — Marlene and Bruce Ehresman
2013 — Kerry "Pat" Schlarbaum
2014 — Mike Todd
2015 — Wolf Oesterreich
2016 — Hank Kohler
2017 — Joyce Hornstein
2018 — Alvin Ravenscroft
2019 — Craig Meyers
2020 — Ted Tedesco
2021 — Trish Patrick
Teresa Kay Albertson covers politics, crime, courts and local government in Ames and central Iowa for the Ames Tribune and Des Moines Register. Reach her on Twitter @TeresaAlberts11 and at talbertson@registermedia.com, 515-419-6098.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Jerry Keys named 2022 Olav Smedal Conservation Award after Trib writer
