Westfield River Watershed Association President Bill Rose (left) of Feeding Hills presents Waite Award to Mark Damon (right) of Westfield for outstanding environmental service in conserving and protecting the Westfield River. (Photo submitted)
WESTFIELD – The Westfield River Watershed Association has named Mark Damon of Westfield as its 2017 recipient of the prestigious Waite Award for outstanding environmental service.
President Bill Rose recognizedDamon’s exceptional efforts on behalf of the watershed and his service to the Association for nearly twenty years. In addition to his decade of leadership as an officer of the Board, including two terms as president,Damon has chaired the fall and spring River Clean-up Days for many years.
“This award is giving me credit for other people’s work. I’m just carrying on what Gabriel Khatchadourian started many years ago,” demurred Damon when surprised with the award at the Association’s Annual Meeting.
“Íf you’re into biology, you realize how interdependent everything is. It’s ‘Think globally, act locally’ for the watershed,” said Damon who teaches Environmental Biology at Westfield State University and Microbiology at Holyoke Community College. He added, “The people in the organization make it worthwhile for me to be involved.”
The Waite Award, established in 1981 in memory of Richard A. Waite (a long-time executive director of WRWA), honors those who have made a substantial contribution to the Westfield River Watershed. The Association began in 1952 to conserve those “resources provided by nature which may be used for the benefit of mankind” according to its history written by Waite. The following year, it began to address stream improvement in the upper valley and pollution abatement in the river. The Westfield is now designated a National Wild and Scenic River that includes corridors stretching 78.1 miles along the East Branch, Middle Branch and West Branch of the Westfield River.
For more information about the Westfield River Watershed Association and its activities, visit www.westfieldriver.org.
