SYRACUSE — A Lewis County couple that manages a private preserve and operates a few companies and businesses in the north country is being honored for its conservation efforts.

Jody C. and Doreen A. Garrett, Turin, are to receive the 2012 Feinstone Environmental Award by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at a dinner tonight at the Syracuse college.

“The Garretts are true outdoor enthusiasts as they incorporate environmental conservation into their personal and professional lives,” states a release from SUNY-ESF.

Mr. Garrett is the president of Overhead Door Co., Watertown, while Mrs. Garrett is the president of Otis Technology Inc., Lyons Falls. They also own the Tilted Kilt restaurant in Watertown and the 2,000-acre Lucky Star Ranch in Chaumont.

The Jefferson County preserve “has become a gateway for the Garretts to share their passion through affiliations such as the National Rifle Association, Quality Deer Management Association, Wounded Warrior Project and various other community organizations,” the release states.

ESF scientists and students in 2011 visited Lucky Star Ranch to conduct a bioblitz, in which plant, animal and fungus species were inventoried over a 24-hour span.

The release notes that Mr. Garrett began hunting and trapping at age 10, assisted his grandfather with his commercial fishing operation and holds a wildlife management degree from the University of Idaho.

Mrs. Garrett in 1985, at age 16, started Otis in her parents’ home in the town of Leyden. The gun-cleaning-kit manufacturer now operates in a state-of-the-art facility off Laura Street and is southern Lewis County’s largest private employer with more than 100 workers.

The Feinstone award was established by historian, author and 1915 ESF graduate Sol Feinstone to reward people and organizations that “do voluntarily the things that need to be done for the good of all,” the release states.

The award program is to begin at 8:30 p.m. at the Gateway Center on the ESF campus.

The keynote speaker will be David Crockett, former director of the city Office of Sustainability in Chattanooga, Tenn., and a descendant of famed frontiersman Davy Crockett.

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