Congratulations to Ashley Landry!

Chapter member Ashley Landry is the recipient of NPSOT’s Nancy Benedict Memorial Award!  

The news was announced by Chapter Vice President Gary Bowers at the chapter meeting on August 8, 2024. The Nancy Benedict Memorial Award honors an individual, a group or an organization for a specific act of conservation or public service in the field of Texas native plants.

Ashley is the founder and leader of the Native Plant Rescue Project, where she leads teams of volunteers to ethically rescue native plants from development in Central Texas. In addition, exposure to the project’s plant rescue mission in print and broadcast media is increasing the public’s awareness of native plants.

Congratulations, Ashley, from all of us!

Nancy Copperman, NPSOT-Wilco President, and all members of NPSOT

woman on magazine cover
Wildflower, the magazine of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Click the image to read more.

Congratulations to Kathy McCormack!

— by Nancy Copperman

Congratulations to chapter member Kathy McCormack!  

On October 11, NPSOT announced that Kathy is a recipient of the Benny J. Simpson Fellows Award for 2023. This award is presented by the Society to a member for work that enriches the Society at the state or chapter level, recognizing service to the Society and embodying “grass roots” recognition of an awardee by their fellow NPSOT members.  See NPSOT’s announcement of all 2023 awards at this link.

Among her many contributions to NPSOT and the Williamson County Chapter, Kathy has been instrumental in establishing and maintaining our interpretive plant signs program which provides native plant signs along trails in public parks and other locations in Williamson County. The signs include QR codes so the public can easily find additional information on a plant using a smartphone or tablet.  She helped GPS all the plant sign locations for our maps and provided other info and updates for display in the county park kiosks. 

Kathy helped whenever needed out in the field finding specimens for NLCP classes even though she was not on the NLCP committee.  She has worked on numerous plant surveys over the years continuing up to the current work at Hidden Springs Preserve. Kathy has been a long time member of the field trip committee where we plan the adventures we offer to chapter members and the public. Any time she is needed, Kathy sees that a job is done.

Congratulations, Kathy, from all of us!

Nancy Copperman
President, NPSOT-Williamson County Chapter

Randy Pensabene receives Benny J. Simpson Fellows Award

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— by Beth Erwin
NPSOT has named Randy Pensabene as the recipient of the Benny J. Simpson Fellows Award for 2021. This award is presented by the Society to a member for work that enriches the Society at the state or chapter level. It  recognizes service to the Society and embodies “grass roots” recognition of an awardee by their fellow NPSOT members.

Randy has been a NPSOT member since 2006. She works tirelessly behind the scenes, organizing and improving our chapter projects. She faithfully records our successes and failures, giving us invaluable information to plan better projects with more effective outreach. She has developed our semi-annual plant sales into high volume educational outreach ventures. Randy has developed a strong core of volunteers eager to help with chapter projects. Volunteers know when they show up, the project will be well organized, and they will come away with a sense of accomplishment. She constantly seeks more ways to promote the use of Texas native plants. Randy’s contributions to our chapter have greatly enriched many of the ways that NPSOT-Wilco engages with the public.

Chapter member Sue Wiseman summarized the nomination perfectly.

“Randy is not self-promoting. She is that member that stands in the wings and makes things go smoothly. Something that is very hard to quantify. However, without her we would not have been able to do all the work we have accomplished over the past fifteen years. We are blessed to have someone like her in our organization.”

Congratulations, Randy, from all of us!

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