AKWESASNE -- The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe was saddened to learn about the passing of Ward Stone, an environmental champion and cherished friend of the Akwesasne community. As a NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Wildlife Pathologist, Stone spent more than four decades helping to document and voice the threat of toxins including Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs).
Ward Stone’s early work uncovered extremely high levels of PCBs from the General Motors and Reynolds Metals sites. These efforts provided the evidence that Tribal natural resources were heavily contaminated and its direct impact on Mohawk health.
In 1985, Tribal Council honored Ward Stone for his technical support and friendship, commemorated with a “Life Ring,” handcrafted by a local artisan Julius Cook.
In the years that followed, Ward Stone continued as a strong voice for monitoring the extent of contamination and supporting rigorous cleanup.
His work to protect the environment earned him several environmental awards; including the 2009 Distinguished Service Award from the Sierra Club, one of the nation’s largest and leading environmental advocacy groups; and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who used his finding to place a partial ban on widely used insecticides. Among all of his much-deserved awards, Ward Stone leaves this world with big shoes to fill in keeping our environment safe for generations to come.
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The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council is the duly elected and federally recognized government of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe.