Don Wells, the co-founder of Pickens County’s Mountain Stewards, became an official conservation hero Thursday night.
WSB-TV announced Don Wells as Atlanta’s 2009 Cox Conserves Hero. Wells was nominated for the program, selected as a finalist by local environmental leaders, and ultimately chosen as the winner after receiving the most votes in an online public poll. Mountain Stewards, Wells’ environmental, nonprofit organization of choice, will receive a $5,000 donation.
Wells received more than half the votes in the Cox Conserves Hero contest.
“When we created Mountain Stewards in 2003, we looked around and there were very few places for people to get out and hike in nature,” said Wells. “We formed this organization to raise money, design and build trails, as well as to maintain the areas. We’ve been building trails for five years and continue to do so. By the end of this year, we will have built 28 miles of trails open to the public.”
Wells is an avid advocate for conserving - and enjoying - the open spaces of the North Georgia Mountains. He designed and managed the creation of new recreation facilities at no cost to the state and involved counties, including Pickens.
Locally outdoor enthusiasts may be familiar with Wells work on the trails in the Wildcat area, Burnt Mountain Scenic Preserve and Pickens High School campus.
Wells also contributed to the creation of the Amicalola Falls wheelchair and stroller access trail, 18 miles of scenic trails and an interactive trail designed for a therapeutic riding program.
Wells was named as the 2009 Cox Conserves Hero for Atlanta on Thursday evening at a celebration sponsored by the Hotel Palomar in Midtown. The finalists included: Angelou Ezeilo, Doug Williams, Evonne Blythers and R.R. Harris. Video profiles of each can be viewed at CoxConservesHeroes.com.
The Cox Conserves Heroes program was created through a partnership between The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Cox Enterprises, a leading communications, media and automotive services company. The program seeks to celebrate local conservation in communities across the country.
“For me, it was a honor to have been recommended and then to be chosen as one of the five finalists out of 70 nominees. I didn't expect to win as I thought there were many more Atlanta voters than in North Georgia,” Wells said.
The Mountain Stewards will be using the $5,000 to built more trails and to further our work on preserving Native American "Living Artifacts."
For more information on the Mountain Stewards check http://www.mountainstewards.org/
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