The recipient of the NYFOA Outstanding Service Award for 2018 is Dean Faklis of Springwater, NY.An active Master Forest Owner volunteer and NYFOA member, in the last four years or so Dean has conceived, birthed and raised to maturity at least five successful initiatives. Dean has a fertile imagination and likes to think big. Shortly after being elected President of NYFOA, I had to add a folder to my email entitled “NYFOA – Dean's ideas.”

Dean pushed for a gift membership program that was successful, not only in new members but in a high percentage of renewals among these new members.He dreamed of improved member benefits and signed a number of businesses up to give NYFOA members a discount, saving considerably on the price of membership.

At the Annual Meeting last year, a silent auction was held for the first time in many years that raised over $5000 for youth forestry programs like the NY 4-H Forestry Invitational Team and NYFOA Woodlands Mini Grants for Educators.Can you guess who proposed and planned the auction and successfully led the auction team?

The Northeast Timber Growing Contest has generated a lot of enthusiasm and is beginning to be noticed far and wide.Dean proposed this and with Peter Smalledge's collaboration has set up the contest with its own website, has helped a number of people get started in the contest, and has written several articles about the contest.

Dean is very active in his chapter, the Western Finger Lakes Chapter and was the driving force behind their successful “c4c” or Chainsaws for Charity program.

NYFOA has greatly benefited from each of these initiatives. He cares about the health of New York's forests and about NYFOA and he has made a difference. This award is well-deserved.