CONTACT: Dan Johnson | Union Sportsmen's Alliance 763-244-5019 | danj@unionsportsmen.org

Union Sportsmen’s Alliance Honors Vance Ayres as 2019 IUEC Conservation Steward of the Year

Spring Hill, Tenn. — The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) has honored International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC) Director of Governmental Affairs Vance Ayres with the 2019 IUEC Conservation Steward of the Year Award for his exemplary commitment to conservation and community service.

The award recognizes volunteers from each of the USA’s charter unions who have made exceptional contributions to the USA’s mission to unite the union community through conservation to preserve North America’s outdoor heritage.

Ayres, of King George, Virginia, is a longtime USA supporter, project volunteer, and has been instrumental in fundraising efforts in the USA's Capital Area market.

The resulting funds have fueled the completion of multiple projects including the USA's 100th Work Boots on the Ground project at Jones Point Park in Alexandria, Virginia. That effort saw more than 100 union volunteers, including Ayres, donate nearly 900 hours of skilled labor to restore a 60-year-old public fishing pier on the Potomac River.

Capital Area projects also include the improvement of recreational shooting opportunities at Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet Center in Glenn Dale, Maryland. Union volunteers donated more than 445 hours to build three covered, fully-accessible shooting stations available to community residents and other guests using the range.

"Vance Ayres has been a fantastic leader for the USA and our conservation efforts for many years,” said USA Conservation Manager Robert Stroede. “It is impossible to convey the value of someone like Vance. Without dedicated volunteers like him we wouldn't have nearly as great an impact on the future of conservation as we do today."

Ayres grew up in an outdoors-oriented family who nurtured a love of hunting and fishing, and the desire to preserve and protect the nation’s natural resources. In addition to his hands-on volunteer work for the USA, he helped organize the USA's first sporting clays shoot at Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet Center in 2009. He also helped coordinate the 2nd Capital Area Conservation Fundraising Dinner.

“I am honored and humbled to receive this award from the USA,” said Ayres. “It’s a great organization that does great things for communities and conservation, in which the building trades and the labor movement have always played huge roles.

“Volunteering is one of the most important things all of us can do to make our lives better and to protect our communities,” he continued. “It has had a profound impact on my way of thinking and a positive impact on the future of my family and friends. I urge others in the labor movement to get involved to help the many great things in our world like the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance!

The Conservation Steward of the Year selection process begins with the nomination of potential recipients by peers or union leadership. From this pool of nominees, USA staff select individuals who have had the greatest impact on the USA’s mission, represented their unions in the most exemplary fashion, and made the biggest difference in their local community.

# # # #
 

Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA): The USA is a union-dedicated, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose members hunt, fish, shoot and volunteer their skills for conservation. The USA is uniting the union community through conservation to preserve North America’s outdoor heritage. For more information, visit www.unionsportsmen.org or connect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Work Boots on the Ground (WBG): WBG is the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s flagship conservation program that brings together union members willing to volunteer their time and expertise to conservation projects that improve and enhance public access to the outdoors, conserve wildlife habitat, restore America’s parks and mentor youth in the outdoors. The USA’s WBG program works closely with federal, state and local agencies and other conservation groups to provide manpower needed to complete critical projects that may otherwise go undone.

Photo Caption:

USA-1

Vance Ayres (R), celebrates the Jones Point Park pier restoration with AFL-CIO President and USA Board of Directors Chair Richard Trumka.