2023 WHC Awards Announced at WHC Conservation Conference
BETHESDA, MD, JUNE 21, 2023 – Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) announced the winners of its 2023 WHC Awards during the WHC Conservation Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 20-21. The WHC Awards honor excellence in corporate conservation, with awardees representing various national and international companies across industries.
The year’s top awards, signifying leadership in conservation, were won by Freeport-McMoRan, WM and Matador Ranch & Cattle.
“We are proud to recognize the excellent achievements of this year’s WHC award winners, including Freeport-McMoRan, WM and Matador Ranch & Cattle,” said Margaret O’Gorman, President, WHC. “All of the award recipients have demonstrated excellence in corporate conservation, and we are honored to work alongside them to support biodiversity, sustainability and conservation education.”
The Employee Engagement Award, given to WM, recognizes the exemplary contributions of one company’s employees towards their habitat and conservation education efforts.
The 2023 Gold Program of the Year Award, which honors the overall depth of one conservation program, was awarded to Matador Ranch & Cattle for its Beaverhead Ranch site in Dillon, Montana.
Freeport-McMoRan received this year’s Corporate Conservation Leadership Award, which recognizes one company’s overall achievement in conservation and commends their corporate commitment to biodiversity, conservation education and alignment with global conservation objectives.
In addition to these corporate and program-level awards, individual projects are recognized for excellence in each of the WHC Project Guidance themes. This award category offers projects of all sizes the ability to compete for recognition.
Freeport-McMoRan was the year’s most honored company, receiving the WHC Corporate Conservation Leadership Award as well as three project awards (Bats, Formal Learning and Species of Concern) recognizing their conservation and education work in Arizona and New Mexico.
The following is a complete list of 2023 WHC Award Winners:
WHC Corporate Conservation Leadership Award
Freeport-McMoRan
WHC Employee Engagement Award
WM
WHC Gold Program of the Year Award
Matador Ranch & Cattle, Beaverhead Ranch | Dillon, Montana
Avian Project Award
BP, Warm Springs Ponds | Butte, Montana
Awareness and Community Engagement Project Award
Summit Materials, Hamm Sanitary Landfill | Perry, Kansas
Bats Project Award
Freeport-McMoRan, Cyprus Tohono Corporation | Casa Grande, Arizona
Desert Project Award
CEMEX, El Carmen Nature Reserve | Coahuila, Mexico
Forests Project Award
SIBELCO, Unidade Jaguaruna | Santa Catarina, Brazil
Formal Learning Project Award
Freeport-McMoRan, Port Nickel | Phoenix, Arizona
Grasslands Project Award
WM, Kirby Canyon Recycling and Disposal Facility | San Jose, California
Green Infrastructure Project Award
Davey Resource Group, WSSI Native Habitat | Gainesville, Virginia
Invasive Species Project Award
California Resources Company, Bolsa Chica Wetlands Ecosystem Partnership | Huntington Beach, California
Invasive Species Coordinated Approaches Project
Matador Ranch & Cattle, Beaverhead Ranch | Dillon, Montana
Land Conservation Agreements Project Award
Boeing, Boeing South Carolina – Keystone/Fairlawn Project | North Charleston, South Carolina
Landscaped Project Award
DuPont, Experimental Station Laboratories | Wilmington, Delaware
Mammals Project Award
MEG Energy Corporation, Christina Lake Regional Project | Alberta, Canada
Marine Intertidal Project Award
The Earth Lab, The Earth Lab – Ejido Sisal | Distrito Federal, Mexico
Other Habitats Project Award
General Motors, Quito | Pichincha, Ecuador
Other Species Project Award
Ontario Power Generation, Ontario Power Generation Wesleyville Site | Ontario, Canada
Pollinators Project Award
Constellation, James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant | Oswego, New York
Remediation Project Award
Ashland, Research Center, DE | Wilmington, Delaware
Reptiles and Amphibians Project Award
BP, Warm Springs Ponds | Butte, Montana
Rocky Areas Project Award
Exelon, Goat Hill Serpentine Barrens Restoration | Nottingham, Pennsylvania
Species of Concern Project Award
Freeport-McMoRan, Tyrone | Tyrone, New Mexico
Training Project Award
ITC Holdings, ITC Transmission Line Right-of-Way at Tomlinson Arboretum | Clinton Twp., Michigan
Wetlands and Water Bodies Project Award
Ontario Power Generation, Ontario Power Generation Wesleyville Site | Ontario, Canada
Award finalists and winners were chosen from Conservation Certification applications submitted between January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022 that were granted certification. Information on award criteria can be found here.
About WHC
For 35 years, WHC has been promoting and certifying ecological stewardship action on corporate lands through partnerships and education. Since only 10-15% of the world’s land surface is protected, private lands provide an essential opportunity for restoring and protecting biodiversity. As the only international conservation NGO focused exclusively on the private sector, WHC provides a framework for voluntary conservation action on a wide variety of corporate lands. WHC’s corporate members represent some of the leading national and multinational corporations seeking to support sustainable ecosystems and the communities that surround them. These efforts have resulted in more than 1,000 certified programs across 47 states and 28 countries.
