Ian Rollan, Sunrise Drive, Syracuse, was among eight individuals - two renowned researchers, a noted bird watcher, an outdoor writer and four active in preserving historic or natural resources - to make up the third class of inductees to the Indiana Conservation Hall of Fame.
Besides Rolland, the list includes Richard Ford of Wabash and Kenn Kaufman of Rocky Ridge, Ohio. The other five - all deceased - are Durward Allen, William "Bill" Barnes, Louis H. Dunten, David Starr Jordan and "Bayou" Bill Scifres.
The eight new members will be honored at a luncheon Oct. 17 at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis. The public event is from noon to 1:30 p.m. and sponsored by Proliance. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased by calling (317) 233-1002.
Indiana Conservation Hall of Fame is a joint project of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana Natural Resources Foundation. Previous inductees include Col. Richard Lieber, father of the Indiana state parks system; Charles C. Deam, Indiana's first forester; author and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter; and U.S. President Benjamin Harrison.
"I was very surprised," Rolland said upon learning of the recognition for his work in both environmental and historical preservation. "It's certainly flattering. It's an important honor and there are a lot of people out there that I'm sure deserve to be recognized, so it's flattering to be inducted."
Rolland, who worked for more than 40 years at Lincoln Financial in Fort Wayne, has been involved in land conservation on a statewide scale through the Indiana Natural Resources Foundation, which he served as chair; Indiana Heritage Trust and The Nature Conservancy. He also played a lead role in securing the Lincoln Foundation's collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia for the Indiana State Museum and the Allen County Public Library. He is the retired chairman of Lincoln National Corp.
Rolland was recently the recipient of the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation's Cattail Award and is the receiver for the Oakwood properties. He was on the WACF initial board of directors in 1991.
Rolland came to Lake Wawasee as a boy to attend camp at Oakwood and eventually became a counselor at Boys Camp. The 1955 graduate of DePauw University, is a life trustee of DePauw and is past chair of his alma mater's board. In May 2010 he was elected to the board of trustees of Trine University, Angola. He is a past member of the Hudson Institute board of trustees, a member of the board of University of Saint Francis, a panel member of the Child Care Action Campaign National Advisory Panel, a member of the advisory board of CID Ventures and CIT Partners. He also serves on the boards of directors of prominent corporations.
The other recipients include:
Allen (1910-1997) was a wildlife research biologist and Purdue University professor who launched the study of wolf-moose interplay at Isle Royale National Park in 1958.
Barnes (1908-2007) had a 37-year career with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and its predecessor, the Department of Conservation.
Dunten (1889-1976) joined the Izaak Walton League of America in its infancy in the 1920s and became a state and national figure in the conservation organization during the next 50-plus years.
Ford has helped revitalize his hometown of Wabash by restoring the past through the renovation of the Dr. James Ford Historic Home, Charley Creek Inn, Charley Creek Gardens and converting an abandoned storefront in downtown into the new home of the Wabash County Historical Museum.
Jordan (1851-1931) was an educator, researcher, naturalist, university administrator, peace activist, and philosopher. He became the youngest president of Indiana University in 1885, accepting the post on the condition he could continue field studies of fish.
Kaufman took to bird watching as a 6-year-old in South Bend. After his family moved to Kansas, he dropped out of high school at age 16 to hitchhike across North American on an obsessive quest for birds.
Scifres (1925-2009) was known to readers of his "Lines and Shots" outdoor columns in a daily newspaper simply as Bayou Bill, a nickname adopted from his childhood days wandering the Muscatatuck River backwaters in southeastern Indiana. |
