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South Carolina Activist Tomm Wyche Receives National Conservation Leadership

Submitted by: John Warner on Apr 21, 2004 at 5:00 am Tagged with: General Archives Source:

Release below from SC Wildlife Federation ...
http://www.scwf.org/articles/index.php?view=264

Originally identified from Upstate Forever ...
http://www.upstateforever.org/UpstateUpdate53.pdf

South Carolina Activist Honored for Conservation Leadership

Thomas ''Tommy'' Wyche of Greenville, SC received the National Wildlife
Federation's National Conservation Award March 13 at the organization's annual
awards banquet in St. Louis, Missouri. The nation's leading conservation
education and advocacy group give this award to the candidate who exemplifies
leadership in protecting the environment and natural resources.

One of Wyche's many accomplishments includes the 1973 establishment of the
Natural Land Trust as a legal entity, in an effort to conserve 40,000 acres of
land, which spread across the Blue Ridge Mountains of Greenville along the
border of North Carolina. The area includes Greenville's Table Rock Reservoir
lands on the west, the city's Poinsett Reservoir lands on the east and the
10,000-acre ''bridge'' of land between the two. Wyche named this area the
''Mountain Bridge'', which it is still called today.

Wyche continued his conservation efforts with the Blue Ridge Escarpment with
the composition of two books, South Carolina's Mountain Wilderness: The Blue
Ridge Escarpment and The Blue Wall: Wilderness of the Carolinas and Georgia,
which focused on raising awareness for the public acquisition of over 60,000
acres of land in the Jocassee Gorges areas of North and South Carolina.

Wyche received the National Conservation Achievement Award for special
achievement, one of twelve categories established to recognize outstanding
individuals and organization for their conservation efforts.

The National Conservation Award has been presented annually since 1965. The
nominations for this award are received from conservationists and the general
public nationwide. Winners are selected by the NWF board of directors.