Come and hear what you can do about safe-guarding our green Earth!
4:00 pm Garden Room Thursday, May 9
Richard Baker, co-founder of the Pelican Island Audubon Society will be on hand to talk us through the delicate balance between human progress and our ecosystem. Learn how you can help be a custodian right here at home.
Richard H. Baker received a Ph.D. in Zoology & Genetics from the University of Illinois in 1965 working with mosquitoes. He joined the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore which started the Pakistan Medical Research Center research center in Lahore, Pakistan doing research on mosquito borne diseases like Malaria and viruses at their and administrating other projects 1966-1979, (9 years as Director). With his family, he returned to Baltimore as Professor and Director of U. of Maryland’s International Health Program (1979-82). The World Health Organization and the U.S. National Institute of Health sent him on numerous trips to speak to nations around the world. The world-renown Florida Medical Entomology Lab, University of Florida/IFAS lured him to Vero Beach to become Professor and Director (1982-98). Loving canoeing and getting out in nature in Florida, he has worked to educate and advocate for a healthy environment, joining the Indian River County Land Acquisition Committee (1990-2010, Chair 2003-05, 07-09), and still currently on Indian River County Environmental Control Hearing Board (1994-2004, 2009-Present) and Pelican Island Audubon Society President and Chair (2003-present). Authored over 100 published scientific articles on mosquito genetics, biology, and control, and guest editorials , book co-authored with Juanita N. Baker: Reflections of Blue Cypress, Photographs, History, and Poems of the Headwater Lake of the St. Johns River, (2003, and 2nd Edition 2013) published by the Pelican Island Audubon Society. Co-editors & Co-chairs, (1998) Florida Mosquito Control, A white paper on mosquito control in Florida by the Florida Coordinating Council on Mosquito Control
Awards: Coastal Conservation Association Award 2019, Audubon Florida Leadership Award 2018; Pelican Island Audubon Society Lifetime Achievement Awards 2015; National Audubon Society Charles H. Callison Volunteer of the Year award 2011; The Marine Resources Council Albert Tuttle Award for outstanding services to the IRL by a volunteer 2010; Sustainable Treasure Coast Outstanding Service Award 2005; Friends of St. Sebastian River Environmental Enhancement Award 2004 with Dr. Juanita N. Baker;
Helped Pelican Island Audubon to receive Florida Audubon Society Awards for best Audubon Florida Chapter 2003, 2007,2011, 2013, 2023, Best Conservation Project 2016, 2017, 2022 and Best Education Project 2018. 2023.