{"id":31203,"date":"2021-05-20T21:57:09","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T21:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/?p=31203"},"modified":"2021-05-20T21:57:13","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T21:57:13","slug":"eddie-bridges-nc-conservationist-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/?p=31203","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Bridges, NC Conservationist, RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:3864,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.ncwhf.org&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/ncwhf.org\\\/&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:3865,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.ncwildlife.org\\\/Fishing\\\/Fishing-in-North-Carolina\\\/eddie-bridges-wins-prestigious-wildlife-conservation-award&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.ncwildlife.gov\\\/Fishing\\\/Fishing-in-North-Carolina\\\/eddie-bridges-wins-prestigious-wildlife-conservation-award&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:3866,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/greensboro.com\\\/sports\\\/eddie-bridges-conservationist-and-fundraiser-dies\\\/article_efd98fc6-b8e9-11eb-8f59-27399700f589.html?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=email&amp;utm_campaign=user-share&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:3867,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.elon.edu\\\/u\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/noted-conservationist-and-elon-alumnus-eddie-bridges-57-dies&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.elon.edu\\\/u\\\/news\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/noted-conservationist-and-elon-alumnus-eddie-bridges-57-dies\\\/&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>The name Eddie Bridges might not ring a bell but in North Carolina he made an indelible mark on wildlife conservation in this state. He served on the NC Wildlife Resources Commission for 12 years and was the father of the lifetime hunting, fishing, and sportsman&#8217;s licenses. In addition, he helped start the tax check-off for the nongame and endangered wildlife fund and the NC Waterfowl Stamp and Print Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to his work with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, in 1992 he founded and served as the <strong>voluntary, unpaid, executive director<\/strong> of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncwhf.org\/\" class=\"rank-math-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>North Carolina Wildlife Habitat Foundation<\/strong><\/a>. That foundation has raised over $15 million to help buy land for wildlife, fund projects and studies, and to maintain over 2,000 acres of conservation easements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncwildlife.org\/Fishing\/Fishing-in-North-Carolina\/eddie-bridges-wins-prestigious-wildlife-conservation-award\" class=\"rank-math-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The NC Wildlife Resources Commission back in 2013 liste<\/strong>d<\/a> all the awards Bridges won for his conservation work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>The Thomas L. Quay Wildlife Diversity Award is the latest in a long line of prestigious awards given to Bridges over the years. These include the Chevron Conservation Award in 1989;the Sol Feinstone Environmental Award in 1991; the N.C. Wildlife Federation\u2019s Governor\u2019s Award of Excellence in 1993 as the North Carolina Conservationist of the Year; the National Budweiser Conservationist of the year; the Wildlife Federation\u2019s Hall of Fame in 2004; Field &amp; Stream magazine\u2019s Conservation Hero of the Year in 2012; and most recently, the Governor\u2019s Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2013.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>On winning the Field &amp; Stream Conservation Hero of the Year Award, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/greensboro.com\/sports\/eddie-bridges-conservationist-and-fundraiser-dies\/article_efd98fc6-b8e9-11eb-8f59-27399700f589.html?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=email&amp;utm_campaign=user-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">he said this to the Greensboro Daily News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIt\u2019s also crucial to keep kids interested,\u201d he told Field &amp; Stream in 2012. \u201cI\u2019ve been hunting and fishing since I was 6 years old, and I\u2019m still kind of addicted to it. &#8230; I just turned 79, I don\u2019t wear glasses and I don\u2019t need a walker or false teeth, so I think it\u2019s done me some good.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Bridges estimated he raised over $200 million for wildlife, conservation, and his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elon.edu\/u\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/noted-conservationist-and-elon-alumnus-eddie-bridges-57-dies\/\" class=\"rank-math-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>alma mater Elon University<\/strong><\/a> where he played baseball and football. On raising the money for conservation, he said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIt\u2019s about the thousands of people who are members of my foundation and other interested folk who have embraced my cause,\u201d Bridges told the News &amp; Record\u2019s Jeff Mills in 2019. \u201cIt\u2019s about the 1 million men, women and children who hunt and fish in North Carolina, people who have generated $2.3 billion a year for our state\u2019s economy. No other sport has done that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>A long-time resident of Greensboro, Bridges was 87. <\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The name Eddie Bridges might not ring a bell but in North Carolina he made an indelible mark on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5667,5668,5602,104,1547],"class_list":["post-31203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-eddie-bridges","tag-nc-wildlife-habitat-foundation","tag-nc-wildlife-resources-commission","tag-north-carolina","tag-obituary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31204,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31203\/revisions\/31204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}