Submitted Photo On Friday evening, May 12, Audubon Community Nature Center’s Volunteer Recognition Picnic will honor and celebrate its volunteers who reached hour milestones for 2022. The gathering is held in the center’s outdoor Stephanie Frucella Education Pavilion.

In 2022, 255 individuals logged 8,483 volunteer work hours at Audubon Community Nature Center.

On Friday, May 12, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., a picnic will celebrate a year of Audubon’s volunteer accomplishments, honoring those who reached significant milestones within the 2022 calendar year, ranging from 100 to 3,000 hours of service.

“Reflecting on the past, and looking towards the future” is the theme for the event that includes a free picnic dinner for all current ACNC volunteers. Non-volunteers are welcome for $8 each, $6 Nature Center Members.

Reservations are required by Tuesday, May 9. Volunteers are asked to call the Nature Center at 716-569-2345 to register. Non-volunteers can call or register online through “Programs and Events” at AudubonCNC.org.

Volunteers work in every department at ACNC, taking care of the trails, gardens, animals, and buildings; performing data entry, store inventory, animal care, and cleaning; leading nature walks, working festivals and events, providing programs and outreach; in addition to serving on the board and other administrative committees — just to name a few. Their accomplishments are many.

Those being honored for reaching their hour milestones in 2022 include Barb Conklin for more than 3,000 hours, Bonnie Bowen for more than 2,000 hours and John Hyde and Olivia Sechriest for more than 1,000 hours. Don Dove, Joe O’Hara, Paul Swanson, Mary Jane Whaley and Catherine Willard all achieved more than 500 hours, and Louise Boutwell, Janaette Coleson, Jerry Hildom, Mark Mason and Linda Trostle reached more than 250 hours.

Jan Barrelle, Nilla Ecklof, Andrew Harrington, Dinah Hovey, Sue Lampo, Janet Laurin – TRC group lead, Gregg Leonard, Mae Piotrowski, Rachel Roushey, Catherine Simpson and Maia Tome will be recognized for reaching at least 100 hours of recorded volunteer time.

A number of these volunteers are registered with RSVP, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

Audubon Community Nature Center is located at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown and Warren. Visit the nearly 600-acre nature preserve, check in on the live birds of prey, and hike more than five miles of trails dawn until dusk daily for free.

The three-story Nature Center building houses interactive displays, a collection of live animals including the Hellbender exhibit, the 2022 Nature Photography Contest winners, and the Blue Heron Gift Shop. Visitors are welcome Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sundays, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Nature Center members and SNAP/EBT cardholders have free building admission daily. Building admission is also free every Sunday for non-Nature Center members.

To learn more about Audubon and its many programs, call 716-569-2345, find Audubon Community Nature Center on Facebook, or visit AudubonCNC.org.