Volume 30 Issue 3, Summer 2025
by Kim Strader, Volunteer Coordinator
Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy kicked off the celebration of our 30th anniversary during the Annual Meeting in June. From our founding in 1995 to today and into the future, volunteers are and will continue to be vital to our mission to protect, preserve, and restore wildlife habitat. It is through our volunteers that we are able to contribute to scientific understanding of the natural world through community (citizen) science, provide a myriad of educational programs, and support habitat conservation projects.
A well-deserved thank you goes out to all 625-plus volunteers for contributing 15,500 hours in 2024. Loudoun Wildlife would not exist without you! Additionally, we recognize individual volunteers through the awards presented during our Annual Meeting. While it is difficult to choose just one person for each award, there is always someone who stands out for their exceptional efforts. The 2024 Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy Volunteer Award recipients are:
Peter Lyttle, with Executive Director Tom Kercheval and Board President Amy Ulland. Photo by Sheri Knauer
The Joe Coleman Award
We were thrilled to recognize Peter Lyttle with this well-deserved honor, which recognizes a Board member or program leader who’s provided exceptional service to Loudoun Wildlife over the past year. As Board vice president for the last two years, Peter played a key role on the executive director hiring committee, helped craft our most recent Strategic Plan, chaired our Governance Committee, and participated in our Board Improvement Committee. He also volunteers at many outreach events, native plant sales, fundraising activities, and even helped plan and execute this
year’s Annual Meeting. Peter also leads some bird walks.
Jesse Edwards (center) with Amy and Tom. Photo by Sheri Knauer
Volunteer of the Year Award
This annual award recognizes someone (not a Board member or program leader) whose volunteer service goes above and beyond. This year, we chose Jesse Edwards, who has volunteered for just about every Loudoun Wildlife program in existence. He is a Bluebird trail leader and monitor, assists with the Amphibian and Reptile Monitoring Program, participates in bat and insect surveys, and has been an invaluable contributor to our JK Black Oak Wildlife Sanctuary, serving on the Black Oak committee and participating in workdays. Jesse also helped build the Loudoun Wildlife float for Leesburg’s Independence Day parade — and braved high heat and humidity to march the entire parade route dressed as a Bald Eagle.
Youth Conservation Award winner Karen Jimenez. Photo by Kim Holloman
Youth Conservation Award
We bestow this special honor only when a truly outstanding young person contributes meaningfully to local environmental efforts. This year we were thrilled to present it to Karen Jimenez, a rising senior at Loudoun County High School. Karen’s journey with Loudoun Wildlife began in the fall of 2023, when she took on an ambitious Salt Watch project in her neighborhood as part of the Youth Conservation Leadership Institute. She then joined our Stream Team and Chem Crew — assisting with benthic macroinvertebrate surveys and helping conduct chemical monitoring at six sites across Leesburg. Karen raised public awareness about the link between road salt and stream health through poster presentations at the Loudoun Student Environmental Action Showcase (SEAS) for the past two years. This year, she earned first place in the SEAS high school division and the Communicator Award. Karen’s ability to translate community science data into advocacy awareness with clarity, energy, and heart is commendable and serves as a guiding light for people of all ages.
Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy volunteers contribute to many organizations throughout the community, and we are not the only ones recognizing them.
Loudoun Wildlife youth volunteer Sid Sankar. Photo by Kim Holloman
We were proud to nominate him and overjoyed to hear that Phil Daley was presented with the Loudoun Environmental Commission’s Environmental Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award in April. This honor not only recognizes Phil’s work with us but also his decades of incredible service throughout our community with organizations like the Goose Creek Scenic River Advisory Committee, the Audubon Naturalist Society, Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, and many others. For more than 30 years, Phil led nature walks, established youth summer camps, monitored the Crooked Run stream site, built important partnerships, served as Loudoun Wildlife’s president, and more.
Additionally, one of our newest youth volunteers, John Champe High School student Sid Sankar, won medals at the first International Environmental Science Olympiad, which was held last year in Puerto Rico. Sid earned two golds, two silvers, and a bronze at this prestigious event. Sid is an outstanding example to his peers, and we look forward to seeing the bright future ahead for him.
We extend well-deserved congratulations to all our award recipients and to all our volunteers for helping us create a Loudoun where people and wildlife thrive together.