Dennis Aprill Honored for Contributions to New York’s Outdoor Heritage

Dennis Aprill will be Inducted Into New York State Outdoorsmen’s Hall of Fame

Story by Matt Kipp
Photos courtesy of Leo Maloney and Dennis Aprill

It took a bolt of lighting to spark Dennis Aprill’s passion for nature journalism. Years later, his dedication to the natural world- enthusiasm born from that flash across the sky and nurtured through more than two decades of outdoor writing- has earned him a place in the New York State Outdoorsmen’s Hall of Fame. “It is a great honor,” says Aprill.

“I was really always interested in nature and outdoors. Somewhere along the way I got a photo of a bolt of lighting I took, a long time ago, and decided to work an article around it. I sent it to the New York State Conservationist, a magazine who published it. After that I started getting just into writing.”

“He is a very effective teacher, a great photographer, and he’s a very skillful writer”

Aprill never took any journalism classes in college, and yet he has won 10 writing awards from the Outdoor Writers Association of America, four awards from the Outdoor Writers of Canada and 15 writing and photography awards from the New York Outdoor Writers Association. “He is well recognized as being very prominent in his field,” Trout Unlimited Region 5 Vice President Bill Wellman says.

“He is a very effective teacher, a great photographer, and he’s a very skillful writer,” says Wellman. Aprill is a full time journalism professor at Plattsburgh State and has been teaching there since 1980. In 1990 he became the Outdoors Columnist for the Press-Republican. “Skill in all those areas has been recognized by his many awards that he has got from the NYSOWA, New England Outdoor Writers Association, and other journalistic endeavors that he has done,” says Wellman .  

The Outdoorsmen’s Hall of Fame will be inducting Aprill because of his contributions to New York’s outdoors. The Hall of Fame is a state-wide organization founded in central New York in 1983. The museum, which is considered the headquarters, is located in the Gander Mountain Store in New Hartford, NY.

“The idea of recognizing people who have made a difference and have done things not for their own personal gain but for the cause of conservation and outdoor sports interested me so I became very involved with it,” says Hall of Fame President Leo Maloney .

An applicant must be nominated before they are considered for induction. “We publicize to the media and sportsmen organizations and things, and anyone can nominate anyone,” says Maloney . “They submit an application with references and information on the background of what that person has contributed or made a difference.”

On the first of February every year the Hall of Fame Board of Directors meets and considers each application. There are 12 members on the Board, who are elected every December. “We only take the ones (applications) we think have contributed a lot over a significant time,” says Maloney .

Aprill was the only candidate nominated by the Board of the Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Trout Unlimited, in its 50th anniversary year, is America’s oldest and largest coldwater fisheries conservation origination. “I wrote the nomination, I regard him quite highly,” says Wellman. Wellman has been a friend of April for eight years.

“He has done an outstanding job presenting outdoor issues to the North Country,” says Wellman. “He has talked about deer herd management, brook trout conservation, invasive species problem in the North Country, and a whole range of items that interest people.”

Four books pertaining to the outdoors have been authored by Aprill: Paths Less Traveled, Good Fishing in the Adirondacks, Short Treks in the Adirondacks and Beyond, and Mammals of the Adirondacks. “I’ve got one more coming along next year,” says Aprill . It will be titled either, Adirondack Wildlife Tales, or, Impressions of Adirondack Wildlife. “I’m interested in wildlife, I photograph them a lot, and it’s very easy for me to write about them."

Aprill has been published in Adirondack Life Magazine. He has been involved with the magazine since 1983. “I’ve written probably 30 or 40 articles for Adirondack Life- mostly all outdoor related,” says Aprill . He has another one coming out in the Summer Guide.

During his free time Aprill enjoys the pleasures of the outdoors. He is a hunter, enjoys going on hikes, and walking while observing wildlife on his 128 acre property in the town of Black Brook NY. “It’s just matter of getting out there and seeing what’s going on in nature,” says Aprill.

On April 25, 2009, Aprill, along with eight others, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at a banquet that will be held at the Rusty Rail in Canastota, NY. “At the banquet they [inductees] are honored, we make a little presentation, give them a plaque, and a chance to speak,” says Maloney. “They receive a plaque with their name, highlighting their accomplishments, and a duplicate is hung in the museum.”  

An annual fundraiser will raise money for the dinner, says Hall of Fame 2nd Vice President Scott Faulkner. According to Faulkner, there are eight donated prizes that can be won from the raffle: Charter fishing trip with Capt Ted Dobs, Resin Quiet Treestand by Cianfrocco Brothers, Gun Blueing Job at CNY Gunworks, Lansky Knife Sharpening Kit, camping tent, spinning rod & reel, cooler, and turkey fryer. The fundraiser, “helps to offset the costs for plaques, not to make a lot of money,” says Faulkner.

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