LAKE PLACID — The Adirondack Council, an Elizabethtown-based environmental advocacy group, will present its Conservationist of the Year Award to the Northeast Wilderness Trust for its efforts to permanently protect forests, reconnect wildlife habitat, and reestablish wilderness areas from Maine to the Adirondack Park at Heaven Hill Farm in Lake Placid on July 13.

The award will be presented during the Adirondack Council’s annual Forever Wild Day celebration. The council’s annual membership meeting will be held virtually on Wednesday, July 10 at 4 p.m.

said Raul J. Aguirre, executive director of the Adirondack Council.

In New York, NEWT manages 18 preserves covering more than 10,000 acres, including the Split Rock Wildway and the Moriah Wilderness and Eagle Mountain Preserves. These wildlands provide a critical connection between the Champlain Valley and the High Peaks Wilderness Complex. NEWT also works in the St. Lawrence River Valley, where it is rewilding landscapes in partnership with local land trusts to create forever-wild habitat linkages between the Adirondack Park and the similarly sized Algonquin Park in southern Canada.

Aguirre said.

said Jon Leibowitz, president and CEO of the Wilderness Trust.

During the celebration, the council will also recognize the work of environmental and justice activist Benita Law-Diao. In addition to her more than 30-year career as a New York state licensed public health nutritionist/dietitian, Law-Diao has worked in the environmental space to increase access to and promote environmental stewardship of the Adirondacks and beyond. In 2022, Law-Diao was appointed to the Adirondack Park Agency board. She is also an Outdoor Afro Leader for Albany and upstate New York, bringing people of all backgrounds to the Adirondacks for connection to nature, community and fun. Among her many other roles, Law-Diao works with John Brown Lives!, Adirondack Experience, Eagle Island Camp, and is a Master Gardener.