Wildlife Commission Seeks Nominations for Small Game Awards

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is seeking nominations for its Lawrence G. Diedrick Small Game Award. This prestigious honor recognizes meaningful contributions of an individual or organization that benefit North Carolina’s small game populations and/or small game habitat. This includes efforts in habitat management, education, research and Wildlife Commission’s Hunting Heritage Program, which promotes the recruitment and retention of hunters. In some cases, small game, such as bobwhite quail, ruffed grouse, squirrel, rabbit, benefit significantly from efforts focused on non-game or other species with similar habitat requirements.

The award is named for the late Larry Diedrick, a lawyer and a former Wildlife Commissioner (1993-2001) from Rocky Mount who was well-known for his passion and advocacy of wildlife conservation, in particular small game. After Commissioner Diedrick’s death in 2002, friends made memorial contributions to the N.C. Wildlife Endowment Fund to support an annual small game award in his honor. The award was established in 2003.

Nominations can be made in two categories: Individual and Organization. In the individual category, past award winners have been landowners who improved and integrated small game habitat into their forestry or farming operations. Most recently, Tim Eaton of Yadkinville received the award for his work to restore and enhance habitat for small game into his farm’s livestock operation using prescribed fire, pasture restoration, establishment of Native Warm Season Grasses (NWSG) for forage and habitat, feathering forest edges, timber thinning, and installment of fences to prevent cattle access to stream and riparian zones. 

In the organization category, past award winners have included corporations, government agencies, and non-government organizations whose actions improved small game habitat. In 2017, the N.C. Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation was honored with the award for its long-term commitment to fund or otherwise support quality habitat management practices that benefit small game and other wildlife species.

Winners are selected by the Wildlife Commission’s Small Game Committee and will be recognized formally at the Commission’s business meeting in October with a plaque and wildlife print. 

Anyone interested in submitting a nomination must submit a two-page written explanation describing why the nominee should receive the award. The written explanation should include the following:

• Name of person or organization being nominated, including address, telephone and e-mail.
• Name of person making the nomination, including address, telephone and e-mail.
• Methods the nominee has used to further conservation of small game species.
• Commitment, effort, and longevity of the nominee’s efforts.
• Accomplishments and results of the nominee’s efforts.
• How the nominee’s efforts impact small game populations at the local, regional, or state-wide scale.
• The long-lasting benefit to small game populations which will result from the nominee’s efforts.

An extended version of the nomination procedures can be reviewed here. Nominations should be submitted March 1 through May 1 by emailing (preferred) Melinda.Huebner@ncwildlife.org or mailing a completed nomination to: N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Wildlife Management Division, c/o Diedrick Small Game Award, 1722 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1722. For more information about small game management in North Carolina, visit the agency’s small game hunting webpage and subscribe to the bi-annual wildlife species and habitat newsletter, The Upland Gazette.