The Native Plant Society of Northeastern Ohio Awards

John Pogacnik
The Gentian Award for 2024

John has always been interested in nature. He attended the Ohio State University, majoring in wildlife management. It was there that he took local flora and ornithology courses which sparked his interests. He got into birding which helped him get a job with Ohio State Parks, where he worked at Crane Creek State Park for 11 years. His birding reputation also got him a job at Lake Metroparks where he worked for 30 years as a biologist.

Since John worked at the same parks for years, he became very familiar with them and was able to note changes within the parks. It was because of that, which helped him detect Beech Leaf Disease in 2012. Because he was visiting the same parks year after year, he began learning different taxa such as butterflies, tiger beetles, dragonflies, and others which helped him understand how everything interacted with each other, in other words, everything is linked together. As a result, he did a boundary survey annually for each property. Each survey included surveys of birds, rare plants, insects, tree diseases, earthworm damage, and others. Which continue since his retirement.

I would see John annually at the Geauga Park District bioblitzes surveying everything while we were surveying plants. He was one of my go-to sources for questions on unknown plants. His son Shawn, with influence from his dad, has become a respected botanist in his own right.

The Native Plant Society is proud to offer John our Gentian Award.

The plaque has a picture of a fringed gentian and says:

Gentian Award
For Dedication to the Native Plants of Ohio
John Pogacnik
2024

This tribute was given by Judy Barnhart, president, of the Native Plant Society of Northeastern Ohio as told by John Pogacnik.