Stuart Kenewell receives the Hunter Education Instructor of the Year from the DNR. (Photo Courtesy of Michigan Department of Natural Resources)
After receiving nominations from fellow volunteer hunter education instructors, Stuart Kenewell of Gregory has been honored as the recipient of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 2023 Hunter Education Instructor of the Year.
Managed by Michigan’s DNR, the Hunter Education program helps the next generation of hunters—an average of 15,000 students per year—learn how to enjoy safe, responsible hunting and understand the importance of wildlife management by teaching lifelong skills such as firearm safety, basic first aid, and how to use a map and compass.
“Volunteer instructors are the foundation of our recreational safety programs,” said Lieutenant Tom Wanless, who serves as the DNR recreational safety, education, and enforcement supervisor, in a recent press release.
Since becoming a volunteer hunter education instructor in 1986, Stuart Kenewell has served as the lead hunter education instructor at the Chelsea Rod and Gun club. During his 38 years of volunteering, Kenewell has been credited for certifying thousands of students and for creating community programs to support hunter education and hunting while positively representing hunting and outdoor recreation.
“[Kenewell] is a positive mentor of those programs and is crucial in recruiting and teaching new youth and adults how to safely and respectfully enjoy the outdoors,” said Wanless.
Kenewell’s long list of community accomplishments includes his role in developing a public archery program and target course, which has operated for more than 30 years. He is also credited with establishing a relationship with Chelsea and Stockbridge public schools to promote hunter education within their community education programs.
To register or learn more about recreational safety education programs, visit Michigan.gov/RecreationalSafety.
Author
Support Our Cause
Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Michiganders and our future.
Since day one, our goal here at The 'Gander has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Michigan families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.
Project 2025 would make flying more expensive and less convenient for rural and small-town Michiganders
Experts have warned that ending the Essential Air Service program, as Project 2025 sets out to do — and as Donald Trump tried to do during his first...
Protecting what’s under the hard hat: Michigan’s construction workers are talking about mental health
Suicide deaths among men working in Michigan’s construction industry went up by 65% in 2022. Today, with employment in MI construction at a 22-year...
Building awareness: Why more Michigan construction workers are getting mental health resources
Michigan state officials are joining forces with construction companies and labor organizations to raise awareness about mental health in the...
License to drive: Rural Michiganders in the UP are getting back on the road thanks to state program
When you live in rural Michigan and you lose your driver’s license, you often lose access to employment, childcare services, and other critical...
Enviros cheer Michigan Supreme Court upholding tighter rules for factory farms
BY KYLE DAVIDSON, MICHIGAN ADVANCE MICHIGAN—A Michigan Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday upholding the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and...
