2023 COMMITMENT TO CONSERVATION AWARD AND HELLBENDER SUCCESS! The Columbus Zoo’s Commitment to Conservation Award, established in 2011, honors conservation heroes whose lifetime achievements have made a measurable impact on wildlife conservation and who have shared a long-term working relationship with the Zoo. This biennial honor includes a $50,000 grant, funded by Kim and Steve Germain of New Albany, Ohio, to support the recipients’ conservation work. In July 2023, Greg Lipps became the sixth recipient of this prestigious award. Greg is the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Coordinator with the Ohio Biodiversity Conservation Partnership at The Ohio State University. He has also been a partner who continues to lead herpetological conservation projects with the participation of Columbus Zoo and The Wilds staff, particularly in hellbender, Plains garter snake, and Massasauga rattlesnake conservation. Among his achievements, he created the Ohio Hellbender Partnership and led the effort to develop the Captina Conservancy. THE WATTERS AQUATIC CONSERVATION CENTER – A FRESH CENTER FOR FRESHWATER MUSSELS On September 15, 2023, the Freshwater Mussel Conservation and Research Center celebrated its 20th anniversary and was rededicated as the Watters Aquatic Conservation Center (WACC), named after Dr. Tom Watters, Curator of Mollusks at The Ohio State University Museum of Biological Diversity and co-founder of the Zoo’s mussel facility. The center underwent a major renovation, transforming the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company lodge and retreat into a freshwater mussel research facility in 2001.
Since 2008, the Columbus Zoo Conservation Fund has supported Greg with $27,000 for hellbender research, producing artificial nest boxes, and sponsoring Ohio reptile and amphibian conferences. These efforts were rewarded in 2023 when a male hellbender raised at the Columbus Zoo was found guarding a nest of eggs in an Ohio river, marking the first documented evidence of hellbenders raised in professional care in Ohio not only surviving, but reproducing and displaying species-typical nest protection behavior!
With a $500,000 investment from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the facility infrastructure was modernized to include a new laboratory, office, and meeting room equipped with the latest information technology. The WACC focuses on Ohio’s freshwater mussels, crucial for maintaining healthy river ecosystems. However, many aquatic species face endangerment, with approximately 20% of all of North America’s threatened and endangered species being freshwater mussels. The center addresses these challenges through mussel propagation, research, and education. It uses science to better understand imperiled mussels and their ecosystems, including host fish identification, husbandry requirements, reproductive biology, and nutrition. The WACC also provides training to students and conducts educational outreach.
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