The Georgia Conservancy, a statewide conservation organization, recently honored Gov. Nathan Deal as a distinguished conservationist at its 50th anniversary ecoBenefete.

The gala annually honors an “exceptional steward of Georgia’s natural resources.” The conservation group cited $50 million the governor has budgeted for land conservation since 2011, and laws he has signed that protect Georgia’s salt marsh, provide incentives for land conservation and the conservation of Jekyll Island.

In 2017, Deal made a $10.5 million investment in the Georgia Environmental Protection Division oversight of the state’s water-metering program, and in 2014, he signed into law a tax credit for Georgians who purchase alternative-fuel trucks and buses, according to Gov.Georgia.gov.

Deal has also committed to the conservancy’s Gopher Tortoise Initiative, a program that seeks to permanently protect a minimum of 10,000 acres of the reptile’s Georgia habitat to avoid an endangered listing for the animal.

For more information visit GeorgiaConservancy.org or Gov.Georgia.gov.