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Paul Curtis Receives Northeast Extension Directors’ 2007 Award of Excellence
Program Succeeds in Utilizing the Web as Tool in Outreach and Education
The Northeast Extension Directors’ Recognition Committee has awarded Associate Professor Paul Curtis its 2007 Award of Excellence for leadership and innovation on wildlife damage management. Curtis was recognized for his contributions to the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management (ICWDM).
One of three programs selected for the committee’s highest recognition, the ICWDM disseminates research-based information and practical approaches to wildlife damage management to audiences via a consumer-oriented, user-friendly Web site (http://www.icwdm.org). The effort is a multi-state collaboration between researchers and staff at Cornell and three other land grant universities.
In nominating the program for the award, Cornell Cooperative Extension Director Helene Dillard lauded Curtis’s vision in recognizing the potential of the Internet as a cutting-edge content delivery system. “Paul Curtis and the members of his wildlife damage management team have done an outstanding job of providing the public a research- and evidence-based resource on the Internet. Paul and his team have created a user-friendly interface full of information that is relevant to the public and county, state, and federal agencies,” she said.
In recognizing Curtis and the ICWDM program team, the Northeast Extension Directors’ Recognition Committee praised the “outstanding accomplishments, collaborations, results and impact [the] program has made in utilizing the web to deliver research-based information and practical approaches to wildlife damage control and prevention.” Curtis received the award—a plaque and $1,000 gift in support of his program—at a luncheon in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 14.
A professor in Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources and coordinator for Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Wildlife Damage Management Program, Curtis has for more than ten years collaborated with educators at the University of Nebraska, Clemson University, and Utah State University on the site.
The ICWDM seeks to foster greater public awareness of wildlife damage management problems, impact, and cost-effective management strategies; improve public access to agencies, organizations, materials, and assistance with wildlife damage management; enhance communication among resource professionals; and increase adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies and alternative pest management practices by producers, homeowner, and commercial pest management professionals. It currently receives 60,000 visitors (1.6 million hits) per year, includes users from more than 40 different countries, and ranks number one in hits (using the key phrase “wildlife damage”) on Google, Yahoo, and MSN Internet search engines.