Michael Scherer - Earns the First Ever - Sapphire Award - Fishing's Future

Michael Scherer, Program Director of Fishing’s Future, earns the first ever Texas Parks & Wildlife (TPWD) AREA Chief – Sapphire Award.

TPWD AREA Chief awards are issued to volunteers that can instruct adults 18 years and older (Area Chiefs) to become TPWD Angler Education Instructors.

The following award steps are:

BRONZE Award – Trained 10-25 Instructors

SILVER Award – Trained 25-49 Instructors

GOLD Award – Trained 50-199 Instructors

PLATINUM Award – Trained 200+ Instructors

(NEW) Sapphire Award – Trained 1000+ Instructors

A little timeline of Michael Scherer’s training history with TPWD

2011 – AED Instructor Certified by close friend Tim “The Big Kahuna” Gebauer

2013 – Became an Angler Edu Area Chief at the Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas

2014 – Earned his first Area Chief award, GOLD Award. (skipped over Bronze & Silver)

2016 – Became a Project WILD Facilitator

2011 – Persuaded TPWD Angler Edu to teach online certification workshop sduring the COVID-19 Pandemic

2024 – The first to earn the Sapphire Area Chief Award for training 1000+ instructors (1027 as of 1/31/2024) – Jesse Woolley was the 1000th instructor on Dec. 7, 2023 at the Kenneth D welch Outdoor Learning Center

Michael Scherer also serves on the TPWD Freshwater Advisory Board, 2nd 4-year Term.