George L. Darey Wildlife Management Area

Joining the celebration, from left to right: Steve Williams, Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife; Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo; George Wislocki; George L. Darey; Environmental Secretary Ellen Roy Herzfelder; Fish & Game Commissioner David Peters.

On May 10, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs recognized the incalculable contributions of the longtime chairman of the Board of Fisheries & Wildlife, George L. Darey, by renaming the Housatonic Valley Wildlife Management Area in his honor. Darey, who is also a member of the Resources Council board of directors, played an instrumental role in helping assemble the Housatonic reserve, along with thousands of additional acres around the Berkshires and across the Commonwealth. As a Lenox conservation commissioner, and later as a selectman, he and BNRC president emeritus George Wislocki pleaded and bargained with landowners up and down the valley to do the right thing. Wislocki toasted and roasted Darey at the surprise dedication, observing that it was appropriate to celebrate a river, a place and a man ... just a stone's throw from October Mountain, where Gige learned the art of trespassing and poaching, which has served him so well. It is alleged that replacement signs have already been prepared in anticipation of stray shot accidentally hitting the original.