HAMILTON, Ohio — The League of Ohio Sportsmen this year bestowed its highest honor – the State Conservationist of the Year Award – on Ray Zehler, a member of the League’s Hamilton Chapter.

"He was chosen for the award for all of the work he’s done over the years for conservation," said Larry Mitchell Sr., president, League of Ohio Sportsmen. "He has worked on so many projects, for the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) and others.

"He has put forth time, effort and money. Anytime you need help you can call him; for conservation, for hunting and fishing, he’s always there to help."

Zehler became aware of conservation on his family’s farm in Jacksonburg. His dad was a conservationist, leaving grass waterways and cutting trees selectively.

"I kind of picked up on it then, but I didn’t see the importance of it until I bought this farm (in 1965) and had to do some things. I still can’t keep up with multi-flora rose and honeysuckle."

A part time-farmer, Zehler was chosen as the Butler Soil and Water Conservation District’s Outstanding Cooperator of the Year in 1991. He had a career as a tool and die maker at Fisher Body, retiring in 1982. Nearing his 82nd birthday, he has now been retired longer than he worked, he mused.

Zehler joined the IWLA in 1967. He was president of the Hamilton Chapter and of the Ohio Division. He has been the executive director of the Ohio Division since 1988.

"I said I would do it for six months with no pay, but they couldn’t find anybody else," he said. "Now it’s been over 20 years with no pay. I told them I’m giving it up next year. I never learned to say ‘no.’"

In 1997 he received a $15,000 grant from the Great Lakes Commission to get counties involved in stream monitoring.

"We started in a county in Pennsylvania on Lake Erie and moved to Upper Sandusky," he said. "We got all the counties in between involved teaching, more that 150 people, how to monitor streams and looking for way to stop siltation in Lake Erie."

Zehler served on an IWLA board coordinating with the Ohio Environmental Council, establishing watershed plans and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and determining which Ohio streams were near cities and likely to have problems. He served on the first Butler County Litter Control and Recycle Committee and has been on the Butler County Solid Waste District board since 1989.

"In 1978 the Hamilton Chapter of the IWLA began recycling as a way to raise money," he said. "We started recycling cans, newspaper, glass. Every month I’d take a full pickup load of newspapers to recycle and a half pickup truck load of whisky bottles from bars. I put the cattle racks on the pickup truck to put the cans on. We’ve collected more than $30,000 since 1978."

He remains optimistic about youth and conservation. The IWLA has programs to educate kids about conservation. "They will see, if their parents don’t, that we have water shortages, and polluted water; if we don’t take care of it, it is gone."

The League of Ohio Sportsmen was formed in1908 and is the oldest conservation organization in the state, Mitchell said. It strives to protect natural resources and to preserve hunting and fishing.

For information on the group, visit www.leagueofohiosportsmen.org