Volunteers Honored for Extraordinary Dedication at Annual Ice Age Conference

News Release Date:
May 6, 2024

On April 20, 2024, National Park Service (NPS) employees of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (NST) had the honor of attending the Ice Age Trail Alliance's 18th Annual Conference at the Ho-Chunk Casino Hotel and Convention Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, the Ice Age NST had 1,990 volunteers provide 100,666 hours of volunteer service. A record-breaking 500+ enthusiastic attendees participated in first aid training, hiking, and workshops throughout the four-day conference.

At the award ceremony, Dan Watson, NPS Volunteer Coordinator, presented recognition items to more than 250 qualifying volunteers. The 100,666 hours of volunteer service in FY 2023 equates to more than $3.2 million in private sector value. In FY 2023, the Ice Age NST Volunteer Program was the 5^th largest within the NPS for volunteer hours, and the 15^th largest program for numbers of volunteers. During the ceremony, volunteers were presented with a Volunteer-In-Parks certificate and pin for volunteering 100 hours, custom water bottles for 250 hours of volunteer work, an Ice Age NST ball cap to honor 500 hours of volunteering, and an embroidered shirt for contributing 1,000 hours of volunteer work to the Ice Age NST. Volunteers Barbara Ceder, Patty Dreier, David Earles, Ann Green, Patti Herman, Jerry Krause, Dean Paynter, and Ron Schwilk were presented with custom volunteer embroidered jackets to honor their 3,000 hours of volunteer work. In addition, volunteers Bob Held, Nanette Del Monico, Barbara Johnson, Gerald "Buzz" Meyer, Darrel Ruechel, Bob Rusch, Ruth Sommers, and Theresa Werner were presented with the President's Lifetime Achievement Award for providing more than 4,000 hours of service to the Ice Age NST. The Ice Age NST staff was honored to present volunteers Jerome Converse, Dennis James, John Kolbe, and Bill Welch with an embroidered fleece vest to thank them for 6,000 hours of volunteer work. John Kolbe was also honored for winning the NPS Midwest Region's Impact Award category of the "Excellence in Volunteerism Awards" program (formerly known as the George and Helen Hartzog Awards). John's nomination now competes against other NPS Regional Winners in that category for the Service Wide award title. View the entire Awards Video at this link.

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