Turtle Conservation Awards

The award is co-presented by the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), the IUCN SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG), the Turtle Conservancy (TC), and the Turtle Conservation Fund (TCF), the four organizations most closely tied to the turtle conservation legacy of John Behler. The award was established by Anders Rhodin and Rick Hudson in 2006, with the TSA and TFTSG as co-presenters from 2006 to 2013, and joined in 2014 by the TC and TCF as co-presenters. Currently, the award carries an honorarium of $5000, additionally supported by several co-sponsors, with the awardee determined through a broad-based nomination and selection process. It is widely considered the “Nobel Prize” of turtle conservation and biology.

The award honors and commemorates the memory and legacy of John L. Behler [1943–2006], former Curator of Herpetology at the Bronx Zoo, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York. John Behler was also Chair and Co-Chair of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group and a founding board member of both the Turtle Survival Alliance and the Turtle Conservation Fund, as well as a founding board member of the Chelonian Conservation Center, later renamed the Behler Chelonian Center in his honor by the more recently created umbrella organization, Turtle Conservancy. These four major turtle-focused conservation organizations that he either led or helped establish have joined forces to co-present the Behler Award as a way to continue to collaboratively honor his seminal contributions and inspirational leadership for each of them and the international turtle conservation and biology community. His legacy continues to inspire all of us.
The true spirit of the Behler Award is to honor John’s legacy and lasting memory. He gave tirelessly and passionately to help build an effective turtle conservation community, and always worked towards increased inclusiveness of people and organizations from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. He was first and foremost a conservationist at heart, and his great passion was freshwater turtles and tortoises; but it was his strong conservation ethic that motivated him. John moved comfortably in many circles, including among academics, biologists, zoo people, herpetoculturists, conservationists, regulatory officials, and land managers and outdoorsmen. John’s legacy will always be linked with turtle conservation and his clarion call to action when faced with the emerging evidence of the turtle extinction crisis that first motivated many of us to become more deeply engaged back in the 1990s. So in the spirit of honoring John Behler, the award celebrates the ideals that he stood for and bases its selection of honorees on those same principles.

In John’s own words, in describing the turtle extinction crisis and what it would take to overcome it, he said: “Despite problems conserving turtles, there are success stories. These have been long, arduous affairs, and for the most part, they have been the work of extraordinarily dedicated individuals, not legions of bureaucrats. The turtle wars will be fought and won by individual ‘turtle men’ and ‘turtle women’ who are on divine missions from the chelonian gods to save their species.” We commemorate his vision and inspirational words through the Behler Award, recognizing the tireless efforts of turtle people on their own passionate missions to save these species.

The award from 2006 through 2013 included an honorarium of $3000; in 2014 the award was raised to $5000 to reflect its increasing prestige and profile, and welcoming the increased organizational participation and generosity of the multiple co-presenters and co-sponsors. The generous co-sponsors of the 2025 Behler Award, in addition to the four co-presenters themselves (TSA, TFTSG, TC, and TCF), are Re:wild, Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, Chelonian Research Foundation, Congdon-Dickson Turtle Ecology Fund, and several individuals: George Meyer, Brett Stearns, Deborah Behler, Judith Behler Howells, Whit Gibbons, and Pat & Alan Koval. Former co-sponsors of the award have also included Wildlife Conservation Society, Conservation International, Chelonian Research Institute, World Chelonian Trust, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Global Wildlife Conservation, and Surprise Spring Foundation.

Honorees deliver a plenary lecture on their turtle conservation efforts and accomplishments at the Annual TSA/TFTSG Symposium on Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles, and receive the award in a presentation ceremony in the presence of a large gathering of peers and colleagues at the closing Symposium banquet.

In addition to primarily honoring the life-time achievements of more senior turtle and tortoise conservationists and biologists, the award also honors conservation efforts by younger mid-career individuals who are making major contributions to the field. Recognizing and celebrating the often tireless and dedicated efforts made by all these individuals is critically important, and the Behler Award provides prestigious validation for those who have demonstrated excellence and leadership on the front lines of not only global turtle conservation efforts, but also in the underlying biological and ecological studies that so importantly underpin these conservation goals. Further, the award hopes to inspire younger and rising turtle conservationists and biologists to follow in the steps of these honored leaders and to become increasingly prominent and effective leaders themselves.