Kentucky Fish and Wildlife staff receive professional awards

​​​FRANKFORT, Ky. (Jan. 12, 2026) — Employees with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources have been honored by national and state organizations for longtime contributions to wildlife conservation, as well as excellence in education and communications. The following is a round-up of awards earned in 2025.

NOTE: To assist news outlets interested in localizing this material, each employee's county of residence is included in the summaries, along with total years of service with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. Photographs are available upon request.

​ Kentucky Ducks Unlimited Jim Moynahan Award​
Wes McFaddin, Public Lands Biologist

• Wildlife Div​ision
• Ballard County, 19 years

The Kentucky chapter of Ducks Unlimited presented the 2025 Jim Moynahan Award to Wes McFaddin at its 2025 state convention. Named after one of the first biologists to work for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife in the 1940s, the award has been presented annually since 2006 and is given for outstanding contributions to the cause of migratory waterfowl conservation and the preservation of North America’s waterfowl heritage for generations to come.

A public lands biologist in the Wildlife Division, McFaddin oversees the management of the Ballard Wildlife Management Area (WMA) west of Paducah in Ballard County. With more than 8,000 acres made up mostly of wetlands and open water, McFaddin manages wetland conservation and waterfowl habitat projects on the property.

McFaddin has dedicated much of his career with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife to conserving and managing wetlands and associated habitats for North American waterfowl.

Founded in 1937, Ducks Unlimited is the largest private waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization in North America. It works to conserve important sites across the United States, Canada and Mexico, through a series of partnerships with private individuals, landowners, agencies, scientific communities and others.

States Organization for Boating Access William H. Ivers Award
Greg Logan, Lakes and Streams Branch Manager
Engineering, Technology and Infrastructure Division​
​Woodford County, 19 years

The States Organization for Boating Access (SOBA) awarded Greg Logan with the 2025 William H. Ivers Award in recognition of his outstanding, long-term contributions to the advancement of public boating access in Kentucky.

First given in 1993, the William H. Ivers Award is bestowed upon an individual who has made substantial contributions, spanning at least 15 years, to the design, construction, management, or administration of boating access facilities or programs.

Since joining Kentucky Fish and Wildlife in 2008, Logan has brought more than 18 years of direct, hands-on experience to the planning, design, construction, management and maintenance of boating access infrastructure statewide. His leadership has been essential to more than 26 federally funded boating access grant projects, alongside many state-level and partner-led infrastructure and maintenance efforts. These projects include boat ramps, access roads, parking areas, courtesy docks, kayak launches, jetties and fishing piers.

The States Organization for Boating Access is the collective voice of public boating access in the United States. Established in 1986 and headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, SOBA is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to improving access to waterways by promoting the public acquisition, development and maintenance of recreational boating facilities.

​Kentucky Association of Government Communicators 2025 Awards of Excellence

The Kentucky Association of Government Communicators (KAGC) annually recognizes professional excellence in communications materials and campaigns by public agencies. The 2025 Awards of Excellence received nearly 250 entries from local and state organizations. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife staff received several awards:

Cody Rowe, Associate Video Producer (former employee)
Information & Education and Marketing Division
Spencer County, 4 years

• Award of Excellence in two categories: photographer’s portfolio for Kentucky’s Outdoors and single photograph from the memorial service for Kentucky Game Warden William “Tex” Bailey.
  

Rachel Cummings, Graphic Designer/Photographer
Information & Education and Marketing Division
Fayette County, 3 years

• Honorable mention for photographer’s portfolio for Wildlife of the Commonwealth.

• Award of Merit in the long-form audio category for Kentucky Afield Podcast Episode 144, which covered bears and elk in Kentucky, bear hunting and great winter fishing.
  

The Kentucky Association of Government Communicators was founded in 1985 as a professional development organization for communications professionals within state government to advance communications as an essential professional resource at every level of national, state and local government.

Association for Conservation Information Awards

The Association for Conservation Information (ACI) is the only nationwide competition exclusively for education, information and public relations professionals who specialize in conservation. The ACI Awards contest features 35 categories and promotes craft improvement through competition. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife received several awards:

Education

1^st Place – Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

Healthy Hunting Grounds Exhibition – Salato Wildlife Education Center

Recurring Video Program

2^nd Place – Kentucky Afield TV

Kentucky Afield TV - Dec. 28th, 2024 & Jan. 4th, 2025

Video Feature: Natural Resource Conservation

2^nd Place – Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

Kentucky Black Bear Trapping & Collaring

Video Feature: Outdoor Recreation

3^rd Place – Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

Floating the Red Bird River – Blue Water Trails

The Association for Conservation Information (ACI) is a dynamic network of natural resource communicators - storytellers, creatives, and educators - working to connect people with the outdoors and inspire conservation. Members represent state, federal and Canadian wildlife and parks agencies, along with private conservation organizations.

Kentucky Association for Environmental Education 2025 Excellence Award

Outstanding Achievement in Environmental Education by a Government Agency - Salato Wildlife Education Center

The Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE) 2025 Excellence Award by a Government Agency was awarded to Salato Wildlife Education Center. The award recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals, organizations, agencies, community efforts, schools and businesses in the field of environmental education.

The award honored the Salato Center’s legacy of environmental education and the continued innovation in connecting people with nature for 30 years. Opened in 1995 at the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife main campus in Frankfort, the Salato Center offers immersive, hands-on learning experiences through wildlife encounters, outdoor education classes and interpretive programming. It has long served as an important resource for environmental education, engaging tens of thousands of visitors each year in learning about native species and ecosystems.

The opening of the center’s Healthy Hunting Grounds exhibit in late 2024 was a milestone achievement that stands out as a major example of community engagement, educational excellence and conservation impact. Designed to reach 40,000 to 50,000 adults and children annually, visitors learn how hunting funds habitat protection and wildlife management through license sales and excise taxes, and how these practices support public lands and benefit all wildlife, not just game species.

The Kentucky Association for Environmental Education is one of the country’s oldest associations supporting environmental education and the first affiliate of the North American Association for Environmental Education.