TIFTON — Dr. Doug Waid, a Professor Emeritus of Wildlife and Forestry at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, received the Jenkins-Crockford-Hayes Wildlife Conservation Award at the recent annual meeting of the Georgia Chapter of The Wildlife Society.

Daymond Hughes, president of the Georgia Chapter of The Wildlife Society, said the Jenkins-Crockford-Hayes award is designed to be a later career award to honor wildlife professionals who have made significant impact over their careers across a variety of avenues.

“These may include but are not limited to, innovations in research and/or management techniques and contributions to students and professionals across the state, region, and nation,” Hughes said.  “The award is not given annually and is only presented to nominees considered worthy of its distinction.”

During the 23 years Waid taught in the wildlife program at ABAC, he impacted the lives of a countless number of students.

“Dr. Waid not only taught students how to manage wildlife populations, but more importantly, he transformed students by demonstrating and instilling in them an unparalleled work ethic and a devotion to wildlife conservation,” Hughes said.  “That was both in the classroom and in his work with the ABAC Forestry and Wildlife Club, now the ABAC Wildlife Society.

“A large percentage of wildlife technicians and game wardens in the state of Georgia studied under Dr. Waid, and many of those professionals give him the credit for much of their success.”

Waid becomes only the third recipient of the prestigious award, which was created in 2010. The previous Jenkins-Crockford-Hayes Award recipients were Dr. Ernie Provost and Dr. Robert Warren, both legends in Georgia wildlife education and research.  Waid considers Warren his mentor because he was Warren’s second graduate student at Texas Tech University.