Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve will host its Annual Meeting of members and supporters at The Grange in Whallonsburg, Essex County, on Saturday, October 5, with registration beginning at 9:30 AM. The public is invited to attend. There is no charge. The historic Grange Hall is located at the corner of Route 22 and Whallons Bay Road, approximately five miles from the Village of Essex.

Participants are asked to bring their own box or bag lunch. Morning refreshments will be provided. The meeting is free of charge, but reservations are requested. To reserve and for driving directions to The Grange, visit www.adirondackwild.org, or contact Dave Gibson by email at dgibson@adirondackwild.org.

The meeting will begin at 10 AM with an overview of Adirondack Wild’s achievements over the past year and a report on its programs. Immediately following, Adirondack Wild will honor organizations and individuals in the Champlain Valley of the Adirondack Park who have made significant contributions to protection and stewardship of wild lands, and to public education about the ecological, recreational, economic and other values of wild lands in the region.

Adirondack Wild will present its 2013 Wild Stewardship Award to Champlain Area Trails (CATS) headquartered in Westport, NY, Chris Maron, Executive Director and Katharine Preston, Board Chair.

A second stewardship award will be presented to John Davis of Essex, NY, former conservation director of the Adirondack Council, former editor of Wild Earth, staff of the Foundation for Deep Ecology, and land manager with the Eddy Foundation.

Adirondack Wild’s Paul Schaefer Wilderness Award is named in honor of the founder of Friends of the Forest Preserve and the Park’s leading wilderness coalition leader of the 20th century. This year’s award will be presented in absentia to Gary Randorf, former ecologist with the NYS Adirondack Park Agency, former Executive Director of the Adirondack Council, and renowned wildland photographer, advocate and educator in a career spanning 40 years. During much of that time, Gary Randorf lived in and promoted the Champlain Valley for outdoor recreation, open space protection, community agriculture, and eco-tourism. He currently lives in North Carolina.

Following the awards ceremony, Bonnie MacLeod will present a special program highlighting the Wilderness Photography of Gary Randorf.

The day’s final presentation will be from Conservation Biologist Dr. Michael Klemens, Adirondack Wild’s Advisor in Landscape Conservation, who will present on “Ecological Resilience and Conservation Design” in the Adirondack Park. A question and answer session will follow. The meeting concludes by 12:30 pm.

Following the meeting and weather permitting, Chris Maron of Champlain Area Trails will lead a 1.5 mile round trip hike to the nearby Wildway Overlook Trail, a relatively easy uphill climb to an excellent view of the Champlain Valley and Split Rock Wildway, the wildlife corridor connecting Lake Champlain to the Adirondacks’ Hurricane and Jay Mountain Wilderness areas.

Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve reorganized in the summer of 2010 as a not-for-profit, member-supported organization devoted to wilderness and wild nature. Adirondack Wild advances New York’s “Forever Wild” legacy and promotes policies and land stewardship consistent with wild land values through education, advocacy and research. For more information visit www.adirondackwild.org.