Field & Stream magazine selected none other than the Elk Foundation’s Rawlins, Wyoming, Chapter as its Conservation Chapter of the Year, an honor given as part of the magazine’s prestigious Heroes of Conservation Awards for 2008.

Along with other recipients, the chapter will be celebrated at the third annual Heroes of Conservation Awards Gala in New York City on September 25th. It will also receive $1,000 from sponsor Toyota Motor Sales and be featured in the October issue of the magazine.

“The Rawlins Chapter is more than a fundraising chapter,” said Brian McClintock of Field & Stream. “Its members are out there on the ground getting their hands dirty. Our editors loved that.”

Along with fundraising through banquets and events, the chapter works on multiple conservation projects across southwest Wyoming, focusing on classic elk haunts like Green Mountain, the Little Snake River country and the Red Desert. Rawlins volunteers have partnered with state and federal agencies to install water guzzlers for elk and other wildlife, fence in springs to conserve riparian zones, thin conifers encroaching on aspen stands and remove old barbed-wire fencing, to name a few projects.

Todd Canaday of Rawlins volunteers as chapter chair. Committee members include oilfield workers, wildlife biologists, schoolteachers, carpenters—men and women drawn together through their passion for wildlife and conserving habitat.

“The Rawlins Chapter is a great illustration of volunteers in action. They not only host a very successful banquet, they do other fundraisers such as “Big Buck, Big Bull” antler contests and a poker run,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “Their efforts made them the top fundraising chapter in Wyoming for net revenue in 2007 and earned them second-place RMEF honors nationally for net percentage. They truly are heroes in conservation.”

For more information, including other honorees, visit www.FieldandStream.com/heroes.