Sheila Brady Wins Keesee Award

OvS Principal Sheila Brady has been named a recipient of Audubon New York’s  2017 Thomas W. Keesee, Jr. Conservation Award.

The award acknowledges those who “demonstrate extraordinary dedication through their leadership and commitment skills in New York State to the Audubon’s mission to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, wildlife, and their habitats from the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.”

Also receiving the 2017 Keesee Award are Susan and Coleman Burke. Mrs. Burke, a member of both the New York Botanical Garden Board of Directors and The Garden Conservancy Board of Directors, is a leading advocate of native plants and gardening. Mr. Burke, founder of the Waterfront Companies, is a dedicated environmental conservationist, and has served on Leadership Council of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Science Committee of the New York Botanical Garden, as a director of The National Forest Foundation and as a member of the National Audubon Society’s Board of Directors.

Mr. and Mrs. Burke are the founders of The National Audubon Society’s Coleman and Susan Burke Center for Native Plants, whose mission is to promote the use of native plants that benefit birds in human communities. The resources provided by the center illustrate how native plants not only beautify outdoor spaces, but provide food and shelter for birds, increasing bird diversity and abundance.

In selecting this year’s recipients, the Audubon Society cited the work of Ms. Brady and Mr. and Mrs. Burke at the New York Botanical Garden, specifically on the Native Plant Garden, which distills the region’s natural landscape throughout a series of microclimates.

Terry Tempest Williams will receive the Audubon New York Award for Environmental Writing, and Patricia H. Keesee will receive special recognition for her decades-long work in the realm of conservation.

The award luncheon takes place today, Wednesday, November 8, 2017 in New York at the Metropolitan Club from 11:30 am – 2:00 pm.