Paul Knauth wins County Sportsman of the Year
By Gene Chague
Article copied from the Berkshire Eagle, 4/14/08

The Berkshire County League of Sportsmen has selected Paul Knauth of Hinsdale to receive the 2007 Sportsman of the Year award.

A former chairman of the Hinsdale Conservation Commission, he was a main factor in defeating the regional landfill which was being proposed for Hinsdale in the 1990s. He co-authored the Area of Critical Environmental Concern nomination for Hinsdale Flats. This ACEC added an additional layer of protection to thousands of acres of pristine land in Hinsdale, Washington and Dalton, including the headwaters of the East Branch of the Housatonic River.

He helped initiate the Massachusetts Acid Rain Monitoring program in the 1980s. He worked with the Berkshire County Commissioners, University of Massachusetts, Berkshire County Regional Planning Commission and others in setting up a pilot monitoring program that was later adopted state-wide. For his efforts, he was recognized by Michael Dukakis, who was then governor. For more than 25 years, Knauth has been an ARM volunteer collector.

He was heavily involved in several dam removals — Cranes in Dalton and the Silk Mill and Ballou dams in Becket. The removal of these dams allowed wild trout and salmon to migrate to their spawning grounds and helped keep these waters running cold and unobstructed. He was heavily involved with Trout Unlimited's Atlantic Salmon Egg Rearing Project programs in the Becket/Washington grammar school. He helped to set it up and provided technical support. He was a past member of the United States Enviornmental Protection Agency's Technical Review Committee for PCB River Restoration. He has worked with the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in its river continuity projects.

He is a member of the Taconic Chapter of Trout Unlimited, having served as its vice president, president, newsletter editor and longtime member of its board of directors. He serves as the chapter's delegate to the Massachusetts/Rhode Island State Council and currently is its environmental vice chair. He has received the Taconic Chapter's highest award, the Crooked Staff, for his dedicated and selfless service to the chapter.

He is heavily involved in community activities such as the Dalton Community Recreation Association, youth sports and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Awarded in 2002:

       The New England Outdoor Writers Association has selected Warren Winders to receive the Joe

Yerka Sportsman of the Year Award in recognition of his contributions to Red Brook and other conservation causes. 

        Joe Yerka was the co-creator of one of the most popular fishing lures in North America, the Mooselook Wobbler. He was also a strong supporter of NEOWA and epitomized the ideal relationship between the outdoor media and product manufacturers.

        Nominees for the Joe Yerka Award are individuals, acting on their own or representing an organization, who have done outstanding work in the conservation, wildlife or environmental fields, and for effort above and beyond the person’s or organization’s responsibility.       

         The selection committee was impressed with Warren’s accomplishments and unanimously selected him for the award. The following is a small portion of the documentation material submitted with his nomination.

         Warren Winders is an avid fisherman, hunter, conservationist and a longtime member of the Southeast Chapter of Trout Unlimited who has donated thousands of hours to clean-water conservation projects.

         He started doing volunteer work at Red Brook in 1990 and became the Red Brook projects director for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Council of Trout Unlimited in 1993, a position he still holds today.

         Besides heading up Red Brook work days, conducting tours of the property and lecturing about conservation projects, Warren organizes a yearly Red Brook fund-raiser. He has also written several articles about Red Brook including a recent magazine feature for “On the Water.”   Read his "Red Brook Journals" here.