Easterly Memorial Award recipients announced

Outdoor enthusiasts from Shell, Basin and Otto have been selected as this year's recipients of the Tom Easterly Memorial Award, which provides them with a free lifetime Wyoming game bird/small game license and a free lifetime conservation stamp, with a combined valued of $482.50.

Bill Easterly, in town for the annual PEAKS to Conga fundraiser, presented the awards to Hannah Haley of Shell, Avery Lewis of Basin and Tyler Winters of Otto during a brief ceremony Saturday afternoon.

The three were chosen from a pool of five applicants. To be eligible, applicants had to be between the ages of 14 and 17, live within the boundaries of the Greybull Biologist District, which includes Basin, Burlington, Cowley, Greybull, Manderson, Ten Sleep and Worland, and be a continuous resident of Wyoming for at least 10 years preceding the date of application.

The award was established in honor of the late Tom Easterly, who served as the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Greybull area biologist from 1992-2014. His passion was introducing young hunters to the sport of bird hunting and he shared the importance of a well-managed wildlife habitat with them.

This was the seventh year that the scholarships were awarded. The three this year raised the total number to 21.