by Dr. Lisa Ferguson
This year, we were grateful to recognize all the contributions Homer Wesolowski has made to The Wetlands Institute – and our conservation and research projects – with the 2017 Citizen Conservationist Award. In 2011, Homer Wesolowski came to The Wetlands Institute offering his time and talents as a volunteer. Little did we know how impactful his contributions would be and how much we would enjoy working with him. Homer found the best match for his skills in the massive amounts of data that are collected each year in our long-running diamondback terrapin program.
As someone who distills disorder into the discrete, and does so with unreasonable patience, foresight, and thoughtfulness, the databases and programs he developed have been a game changer for us. His contributions have undoubtedly advanced the capacities of our programs and the impacts of the work.