George “Gig” Darey, former board member and chairman of the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, received the Francis W. Sargent Conservation Award Tuesday for his “significant contributions to the conservation of natural resources in Massachusetts.”
Darey is the 14th recipient of the award, which was established in 2000 by the Fisheries and Wildlife Board. The Sargent Award honors the former governor and noted conservationist who directed the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife from 1963–64.
Darey, who has hunted and fished all his life, received a framed photograph of a loon by the late MassWildlife photographer Bill Byrne for the award at a ceremony held at the Lenox Sportsmen’s Club. There were over 100 in attendance, including Berkshire members of the Massachusetts legislature, MassWildlife Director Mark Tisa and many other MassWildlife employees, Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Ron Amidon as well as representatives from state environmental agencies, sporting and other local conservation organizations, previous Sargent Award recipients, and family members.
As the Fisheries and Wildlife Board vice president, I have been following conservation issues all my life and served on the Fisheries and Wildlife Board with Gig Darey since 1986. No individual I know has ever had a greater positive impact or contributed more to the natural resources of Massachusetts in so many critical ways.
“I have been lucky to be involved for so many years with something I love. It has been a fun ride,” said Darey. “I have been even more fortunate to have worked with and get to know so many people and organizations with a passion for our environment. Words can’t express how much this day and what you all mean to me.”
Darey grew up in Lenox and he represented the Western Wildlife District on the Fisheries and Wildlife Board for 38 years, 35 of which he was chairman, until December 2016. He served under eight different governors and worked with four MassWildlife Directors. During his tenure on the Fisheries and Wildlife Board, Gig was instrumental in an incredible number of milestones in state conservation history, including generating public support for important wildlife issues including the funding of the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program; the establishment of the Wildlands Conservation Stamp, a $5 assessment to the sale of hunting and fishing licenses dedicated exclusively to the protection of wildlife habitat open to hunting, fishing, and other wildlife related recreation; and science-based management of wildlife and wildlife habitat. He was honored by the Fisheries and Wildlife Board in 2004 when the Housatonic Valley Wildlife Management Area in Lenox was renamed the George Darey Wildlife Management Area.
Darey, a retired teacher, has been a long-time environmental advocate for the Berkshires since returning from military service. He served on the first Lenox Conservation Commission as well as on the Board of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions and served on the Lenox Board of Selectmen. Darey has a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York (Plattsburg) and an Master of Science from the University of Massachusetts.
His leadership role in environmental stewardship was recognized in 1996 when he was presented a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Award. He is a board member of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, Green Berkshires, and Sportsmen for Land Preservation. He is also a founding member of the Housatonic River Initiative and the Massachusetts Outdoor Heritage Foundation, and was instrumental in forging forestland protection and management partnerships between MassWildlife and the Nature Conservancy, the Ruffed Grouse Society, and the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Gig began his teaching career in Orange and was on the staff when Mahar Regional School opened in 1957. It was there where he met my father John E. Roche Jr. and the two discovered they shared a passion for hunting and fishing. When teachers were required to have a student club, they founded the Mahar Fish’N Game Club, which is still thriving today at the school. Over the years, Gig became one of my closest friends and we often hunted grouse and deer together. He was an exceptional woodsman and dog trainer, at 90, and has just stopped his ridge-to-ridge hunting escapades. The Sargent Award, the highest honor given in Massachusetts Conservation, could not have gone to a more deserving person.