John Moriarty receives Boy Scouts gold medal award

John Moriarty, longtime TWS member and North Central Section Representative to Council, recently was honored with the Boy Scouts of America William T. Hornaday Gold Medal Award. 

Moriarty is a past chair of the Northern Star Council Conservation Committee and he has been a scouting volunteer for more than 20 years. He has been a counselor for wildlife-related merit badges, and as a youth he earned the Sea Scout Quartermaster award, which is the equivalent of the Eagle Scout rank. He is the senior manager of wildlife and acting director of natural resources management for the Three Rivers Park District, a special park district serving the suburban areas of Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

Moriarty has published numerous articles and six books aimed at educating young people and the public on wildlife and natural resources in the Upper Midwest. The gold medal award was in particular presented to him because of his work to protect turtles, frogs and reptiles in the Upper Midwest.

The William T. Hornaday Gold Medal award is by nomination only and is for an adult Boy Scout leader who has rendered distinguished and unusual service to natural resource conservation and environmental improvement over at least 20 years. The honor has only been given to 71 adults in the Hornaday Awards’ 104 year history. 

Two previous TWS members — Jack Berryman and Aldo Leopold — have also received the award.