2017 Honorees
The 12th Annual Women & Wildlife Awards and Silent Auction was held on November 1, 2017 at Duke Farms to honor four remarkable women for their valuable contributions to protecting New Jersey’s wildlife with keynote speaker former Governor Tom Kean.
The Black swallowtail butterfly is the official butterfly of the state of New Jersey. Artwork by James Fiorentino
Our Women & Wildlife Awards will recognize outstanding women for their achievements in protecting New Jersey's endangered and threatened wildlife in four categories - Leadership, Inspiration, and Education and Service.
The event, featuring keynote speaker former Governor Tom Kean, continues CWF’s twelve-year tradition of honoring women for their success in protecting, managing, restoring, and raising awareness for the State’s endangered and nongame wildlife species. These honorees helped to make New Jersey a leader in bringing key species back from the brink of extinction – species such as the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and osprey.
Proceeds will benefit Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey’s efforts to protect rare and imperiled wildlife.
2017 honorees:
Hazel England
Education
Zoom+ Hazel has trained educators and taught students about nature for over two decades, while also developing environmental and stewardship programs for formal and informal settings statewide.
Hazel England has spent 24 years as an enthusiastic environmental educator and naturalist in New Jersey, bringing education programs to students and teachers of all ages about our local ecosystems and habitats. Her work focuses on providing powerful learning experiences for educators, encouraging youths to explore and understand New Jersey’s incredible biodiversity, and partnering with agencies to open up more environmental opportunities for students of all ages.
Since 2004, Ms. England has dedicated herself to developing, coordinating, and implementing a wide variety of educational and stewardship programs and activities at the Great Swamp Watershed Association as the Director of Outreach and Education. She currently focuses on creating programs about water quality and conservation, ranging from curriculum development, to watershed-wide issues, to local resident workshops.
Ms. England has a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Botany from the University of Dundee, as well as a Master’s degree in Ecology and Environmental Management from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. She is a state-certified facilitator for many nationally acclaimed environmental education curriculums (Project WILD, WET, WOW, PLT HWHP, and Bridges to the Natural World), which gives her a strong background and understanding for environmental education programming. Her in-field experience as a county naturalist also provides her with the insight for developing effective hands-on activities in in-formal settings for her diverse audiences.
Ms. England’s many partnerships with county, state, federal, and non-profit agencies allows her to share resources and knowledge, opening up new types of collaborative education to the public and to youths. She sets an excellent model for other women to follow by being an accomplished natural scientist that brings her passion to life for people of all ages.
Jeannie Geremia
Service
Zoom+ One of Jeannie's most notable achievements, was to get the black swallowtail butterfly designated as the state butterfly.
For the past decade, Jeannie Germia has followed her passion for protecting pollinators by leading, inspiring, and educating others on the importance of pollination and wildlife habitat gardens. As the Vice President for the Garden Club of New Jersey, she works to engage others in gardening for pollinators, as well as ensuring funding to support these efforts.
One of Ms. Germia’s most notable accomplishments is her leadership in the designation of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly as the New Jersey State Butterfly. She spoke to many members of the New Jersey State Legislature, and recruited legislators with her enthusiasm and vast knowledge on the species. Her action earned her recognition from both the New Jersey Senate and the General Assembly.
Ms. Germia recognizes the important of environmental education as well, and strives to share her mission with the public. Sponsored by the BEE GAP Committee of the Garden Club of New Jersey, she created attractive Pollinator Education Signs that are displayed statewide at local plant nurseries, horticulture garden visitor centers, and a variety of education centers. These posters highlight the plants needed for the life cycle of butterflies, birds, and bees. Ms. Germia is also a popular speaker on bees and butterflies with the Garden Club, and gives programs to many other clubs throughout the state. She has also created and presented over 75 Pollinator Education programs, and has written 89 articles – and counting - for Gardener News on wildlife preservation, conservation, and growing our decimated pollinator population.
Ms. Germia has worked tirelessly to promote pollinators and their plight to the public and other passionate gardeners. She has had great success in her leadership through education, finding resources to help others in New Jersey supporting her cause, and inspiring so many people to engage in positive action to protect New Jersey’s wildlife.
Kelly Mooij
Leadership
Zoom+ Kelly is an advocate for environmental protection, having successfully fought for wildlife grant programs and open space funding, coordinated green coalitions and lobbied for state and federal wildlife funding.
Kelly Mooij works to promote and secure a legal and regulatory framework that supports habitat conservation, open space preservation, and species protection and recovery in New Jersey. She has dedicated her time and efforts in utilizing the tools of law, policy, and government affairs to protect our state’s wildlife.
Ms. Mooij earned her Juris Doctorate and Master of Studies in Environmental Law, focusing on marine biodiversity and land and water use issues, and has worked for New Jersey Audubon since 2008. Her efforts often center on bringing interested parties together to support efforts to protect the region’s wildlife. In 2012, Ms. Mooij helped lead the formation of the multi-state Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed. This coalition seeks to protect the watershed that provides drinking water for 16 million people, supports hundreds of miles of vital habitat for fish and wildlife, and is critical to the economic well-being of the mid-Atlantic region.
While coordinating the Keep It Green Coalition that works to preserve a variety of New Jersey’s land and ecosystems, Ms. Mooij helped lead the passage of two state-wide bond measures for $200 million and $400 million dollars of open space, park and farmland preservation and helped develop their successful long-term funding campaign. This resulted in the State Legislature’s approval to refer Public Question 2 to the November 2014 ballot, asking voters to approve a permanent source of funding for the preservation and stewardship of New Jersey’s land, water, and historic treasures - which the public emphatically approved.
Ms. Mooij leads the annual lobbying efforts of New Jersey’s environmental organizations for the State and Tribal Wildlife Grant Program to which provide an average of $1 million dollars in Federal grant funds to State fish and wildlife agencies for developing and implementing programs that benefit vulnerable wildlife and habitats. Through Ms. Mooij’s leadership, these funds helped jump-start multiple projects for restoring degraded habitats, reintroducing native wildlife, and expanding knowledge about wildlife populations.
She works successfully at the state level to advance legislation to restore our forests and other critical habitat, increase science-based management of our natural resources, reduce the use and spread of invasives, protect pollinators such as butterflies and native bees and more.
Ms. Mooij’s perseverance in bringing together people to support wildlife conservation makes her an excellent leader and role model for all who wish to see New Jersey’s natural heritage protected.
Kris Schantz
Inspiration
Zoom+ Kris has utilized her knowledge to create a rapid response team for venomous snakes that is critical to educating the public about their life history, threats, and conservation in New Jersey.
Kris Schantz works with one of New Jersey’s most underappreciated and persecuted species: the timber rattlesnake. She earned her Masters of Science degree from Rutgers University based on a study of the rattlesnake and its habitat in northern New Jersey, and her passion in both learning and developing greater understanding of this species has helped improve its protection.
Ms. Schantz partners with academic and consultant biologists, as well as a number of reptile enthusiasts to accomplish the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s conservation mission. Her responsibilities have expanded to include other vulnerable snake species, such as the corn snake, northern pine snake, and scarlet snake.
One notable accomplishment of Ms. Schantz’s is her development of a Venomous Snake Response team, a program that serves the public by safely removing venomous snakes from areas where they may pose a risk. Volunteers and professionals in law enforcement, animal control, and parks management participate, and are trained by Ms. Schantz and other snake experts. Her work here also serves as an effective method for delivering conservation messages to the public about these often-misunderstood snakes.
In addition, through her responsibility of leading the development of the department’s Wildlife Action Plan, Ms. Schantz has proven her commitment to the importance of transforming and bettering wildlife conservation agencies and their work.
Ms. Schantz has gained the deep respect of the nearly everyone who works with imperiled snakes in New Jersey, and she serves as an example of passion, enthusiasm, and commitment in her field. She continues to grow as a professional, and to use her engagement in snake conservation work to further the mission of conserving New Jersey’s wildlife species.
LEARN MORE:
- 2006 Winners
- 2007 Winners
- 2008 Winners
- 2009 Winners
- 2010 Winners
- 2011 Winners
- 2012 Winners
- 2013 Winners
- 2014 Winners
- 2015 Winners
- 2016 Winners
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