On behalf of the Houston Zoological Society, Jeremy Cecil presents the Alban Heiser Award to his grandfather and Audubon Warden of Sundown Island. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Heiser Award

March 2009—Jeremy Cecil, a Houston Zoo employee, presents his grandfather, Chester Smith with the Houston Zoological Society Alban Heiser Award.

Chester was in the hospital recovering from surgery when he received this award. The Alban Heiser Award is presented annually "in recognition of notable contributions to appreciation and preservation of the earth's heritage of living creatures, their environment, their ecology and their relation to human welfare." The award also came with a monetary gift of $1,000.

Chester Smith has been the Warden of the Audubon bird sanctuary known as Sundown Island for some twenty plus years. He has worked with multiple generations of volunteers and their children who have grown up and continue the work along side his large family who has always been so supportive of his passionate work to bring the Brown Pelican back to the Texas Coast and to preserve their habitat for generations to come.

Formosa Grant

While Chester was recovering from his surgery he received news from Jim Shephard that Sundown Island had been awarded a generous $17,600 grant from the Formosa Plastics Corporation, in Port Lavaca, Texas. Chester plans to use both awards to purchase a new boat motor for the Audubon boat, the Egret II and for some new side and top curtains. The ride to the island can sometimes be very wet and choppy. Shortly after Chester was released from the hospital, he was shopping for that motor!