Former Chattahoochee Nature Center horticulturist receives conservation award

Retired Chattahoochee Nature Center horticulture curator Henning von Schmeling center was honored with the Tom Patrick Award for his conservation efforts Courtesy CNC Credit Photo courtesy of Chattahoochee Nature CenterRetired Chattahoochee Nature Center CNC horticulture curator Henning von Schmeling was in recent months honored with the Tom Patrick Award from the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance GPCA Established in the Tom Patrick Award commemorates individuals who demonstrate exemplary dedication to the evaluation teaching and arrangement of Georgia s native flora according to a release Von Schmeling who retired in after years at CNC was a founding member of GPCA and played a substantial role in the restoration and protection of Georgia s rare native plant species during that time Among his noted accomplishments include helping to revitalize the Alabama Leather Flower as well as the Georgia Rockcress which was down to just one surviving plant before von Schmeling came up with a remedy to bring it back from the brink of extinction In receiving the Tom Patrick Award von Schmeling became just the fifth person to ever earn the conservation-focused honor I can t think of a better way to celebrate Henning s retirement than seeing him earn this incredibly prestigious award from our partners at the GPCA noted Natasha Rice chief executive officer of Chattahoochee Nature Center Von Schmeling began his career at CNC back in The Atlanta conservation nonprofit says that he exemplified a deep commitment to advancing knowledge mentoring and stewardship of the state s native plants during his tenure with the organization Henning was a key member of our squad and during his time here contributed to a large number of of our successes so it brings myself our organization and our entire organization such immense pride to see him recognized in this way announced Rice Now residing in his native Germany von Schmeling remains actively involved in conservation efforts and continues to educate his locality on the importance of environmental stewardship It has been an honor to work at Chattahoochee Nature Center and have an impact on protecting and preserving particular of the rarest plants in Georgia I hope my work will continue on so that these plants have a chance disclosed von Schmeling Receiving the Tom Patrick Medal of Honor was unexpected but I will cherish it and will continue working with rare plants in Germany The post Former Chattahoochee Nature Center horticulturist receives conservation award appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta