The Bill Miller Award

Volunteers and partners are the lifeblood of the Buckeye Trail Association. Volunteers and partners give thousands of hours of their time and energy to help build, maintain, protect and promote the enjoyment of Ohio’s 1,454 mile BT. Our volunteers deserve to be honored for their hard work on-trail and off-trail and we need your help to highlight all types of volunteers and partners around the state to thank them and encourage others to follow their leadership.

The deadline to nominate a volunteer or partner is July 1, 2026. The awards will be presented at a Virtual Awards Ceremony the week of August 24.

Questions? Contact the Awards Committee Chair at Awards@buckeyetrail.org

This week’s spotlight award category is The Bill Miller Award for Conservation!

The Bill Miller Award for Conservation

This award honors any person or group responsible for actions that have notably preserved or restored the natural ecology or beauty of a locality by the Trail, or have brought under control a major threat to utility of the Trail in some locality.

Bill Miller was an early and influential member of the BTA Board of Trustees as well as the Editor of the Logan Daily News. A portion of the BT is named in his honor at Lake Logan State Park where he was instrumental in developing a partnership between the BTA, ODNR and the Columbus Foundation to accomplish our first land acquisition oin the 1970’s to preserve a permanently protected corridor for the Buckeye Trail that was under threat of housing developments.

Past Recipients

2025 Heather Stehle
2024 Joe Carter and Petra Schmalbrock
2022 Ann Furste
2020 Brian Blair, Forest Conservancy, LTD
2019 Cheryl Kreindler
Prior to 2019 Nature Conservancy of Ohio - Edge of Appalachia, Roger Pawsaw, Dr. Carl and Gail Boesel, Rich Pfeiffer, Andy Hite, Friends of Monday Creek, Herb Hulls