SANDUSKY, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Watercraft was recently honored with five Awards of Excellence and two individual honors at the annual Ohio Park and Recreation Association Conference on Feb. 2-5.
ODNR Director Mary Mertz was inducted into the OPRA Hall of Fame and the division’s sustainability coordinator Heather Bokman was presented with the Jack Hanna Resource Conservation award.
The OPRA Hall of Fame is the highest honor given by the organization. Mertz was inducted for her leadership in conservation and outdoor recreation, from opening Ohio’s 76th state park and expanding ODNR’s H2Ohio wetland program to modernizing Ohio State Parks’ infrastructure.
Bokman received the Jack Hanna Resource Conservation Award for leading the ConServe Ohio initiative, which embeds sustainability into Ohio State Park operations. Under her leadership, 43 parks earned sustainability certification this year, up from 11 the previous year. She has also formed partnerships with universities and led projects like the Salt Fork State Park Eco-Discovery Center.
The ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft was honored with five Awards of Excellence. It received a first-place honor in the category Capital Improvement Project — $10 million and up for the opening of Ohio’s 76th state park, Great Council State Park, in June 2024. The park is dedicated to preserving Native American and pioneer history, developed in partnership with the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe and the Shawnee Tribe. It highlights the historic site of Old Chillicothe.
The division earned a first-place honor in the Adaptive Programs and Events category for LightSound: An Adaptive Solar Eclipse Experience for All. The program allowed blind and low-vision individuals to view the eclipse. Through a partnership between ODNR and Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, LightSound devices — developed by Harvard University — were used to translate changes of light intensity into sound, allowing participants to “hear” the eclipse’s progression.
The division received second place in the category Natural Resources and Conservation for the Headlands Dunes H2Ohio Coastal Wetland Restoration Project. Part of the H2Ohio initiative, H2Ohio and ODNR transformed a frequently flooded, 7-acre parking lot at Headlands Beach State Park into a coastal wetland.
The division earned a second-place award in the category Law Enforcement Programs and Events for its Ohio State Parks and Watercraft Active Threat Response Training.
It also received a third-place award in the Marketing Innovation category for the Ohio State Parks 75th Anniversary: 75 Years of Making Memories campaign.
For more information, visit ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-ODNR/news/odnr-accolades-opra-conference-2025.
