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2009 marks the 20th Anniversary of the National Wetlands Awards program. Since 1989, the program has honored 143 champions of wetlands conservation; helped draw local and national media attention to their causes; and played an important role in securing funding for and convincing policy makers to consider seriously the issues they have championed. Please consider nominating someone for the 20th Anniversary National Wetlands Awards.

The 2009 nomination form and nomination guidelines are now available.

The 2008 National Wetlands Awards winners accept their awards. View more photos from the ceremony.

 

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1998 National Wetlands Award Recipients

 

Outstanding Program Development

When Julie Anderson was hired as the State Wetlands Planner by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, she faced an almost insurmountable task in this large, diverse state where 97 percent of the land is privately owned and may pride themselves on their independence and commitment to private property rights. Through an extensive public planning effort, which included regional advisory groups and countless meetings, she coordinated a process that lead to the development of the Texas Wetlands Conservation Plan. After considerable coordination with state and federal agencies, the private sector, the legislature, and endorsements by the governor, the Plan was approved in July 1997. Other noteworthy materials were developed along with the Plan, including two wetlands guides, a brochure, a video and a quarterly newsletter.

The Texas Wetlands Conservation Plan is complete, but the work is just beginning. During implementation of the Plan, Julie will coordinate the development of a site registry for landowners with properties that are available for wetlands restoration or enhancement. Other wetlands projects are in the developmental stages. With her experience in wetlands planning with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Julie has tackled the planning process with a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm for her job.

— Bob Spain, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Outstanding Program Development

As Lands Projects Director of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Bruce Mountain has helped arrange real estate transactions that have resulted in the restoration of more than 14,265 acres of wetlands. His primary focus is on seven major river corridors in Iowa, where he is working with multiple landowners and funding sources to buy residual interests in properties to put together riverine wetland complexes. Often he works to acquire environmentally significant properties on behalf of county, state, and federal agencies to hold until public financing is available. Following the great floods of 1993, Bruce played a crucial role in the buyout of a Mississippi River levee district. In that case, Bruce worked tirelessly to put together deals to acquire 10 farms, helping landowners meet their financial objectives and agencies their conservation objectives at the same time. The levee district is now part of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge.

An avid outdoorsman and lawyer in private practice for 20 years before joining the Foundation in 1993, Bruce works quickly and flexibly and brings financial savvy to situations. He refuses to let obstacles stand in the way of wetland projection, and his approach is considered a model for cooperative wetland restoration projects across the nation.

— Lyle Asell, Natural Resources Conservation Service

Outstanding Program Development

Dennis Nelson has focused his career on providing formal and informal educators with diverse, creative, and engaging teaching resources, instructional opportunities, and networking services. He is the founder and Executive Director of The Watercourse Program and Project WET (Water Education for Teachers), headquartered in Bozeman, Montana. Project WET has been adopted by 48 states, two U.S. islands, Canada, and the U.S. Peace Corps. In addition, he has led the development of a wetlands program; “Discover a Watershed,” a water management series; a fishing series; and a program on native waters. He believes the best wetlands education takes place at the grassroots level — in rural and urban settings, in family backyards, neighborhood parks, schools, and in conservation centers — when conducted by knowledgeable and caring parents, teachers, business and community leaders, and resource managers.

Dennis’s work has and will continue to provide scientifically based unbiased, and educationally sound materials for many generations. He is always the first to acknowledge the contributions and hard work of partners, contributors, supporters, and staff. However, the achievements of this scope and duration require a leader who can crystallize the efforts, talents, and hard work of many. In water and wetlands education, Dennis Nelson has been that leader.

— Sandra DeYonge, Project WET U.S.A.

Volunteer Leadership

Patricia and Mike McCoy have dedicated the past two decades to preserving Southern California’s wetland resources and to educating the public about their value. In 1979, the couple founded the Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association (SWIA), which was instrumental in securing designation of Tijuana Estuary as National Estuarine Research Reserve. Scheduled to become a marina in the early 1970s, the 2,413-acre Reserve now includes a U.S Fish and Wildlife Refuge for endangered species, a state park, an outdoor research laboratory, and a visitor center.

Both Patricia and Mike serve on the Reserve’s Management Authority. In 1997, Patricia supervised contracts for the construction of the Tidal Linkage, the first tidal restoration module for Tijuana Estuary. Mike recently reconstituted the Authority’s Research Committee, reaching out to a broad group of researchers to advise in restoring the estuary. In addition, Mike is a member of San Diego County’s Fish and Wildlife Commission and the County’s Parks and Recreation Committee and the current president of SWIA. The McCoy’s protection of Tijuana Estuary is a remarkable achievement. Through their endless energy and long-term vision, they have worked to educate the public about wetland resources, and have had a strong positive influence on local wetland polices.

— Joy Zedler, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, and John Callaway, Ph.D., Gabrielle Vivianne-Smith, Ph.D., and Julie Desmond, M.S., Pacific Estuarine Research Laboratory

Land Stewardship and Development

Kimberly de Castro, a small business owner, has taken a 50-acre severely abused property and begun slowly but surely healing it. When she bought her property, the land had deep incisions, the downcutting evidence of overuse by domestic livestock, and two wetlands that were degraded by past mismanagement. Enhancement of the wetlands were Kimberly’s top priority because of their value for a diverse number of animals, ranging from migrating waterfowl to resident deer. Participating in the Partners for Wildlife program, Kimberly began to restore the wetlands. Because she understood the effects of land use activities in other parts of the watershed on her wetlands, she also focused her efforts on the larger landscape. She planted more than 5,000 tress and shrubs, drilled grass seed throughout the property, placed tons of straw bales with grass seed in her eroded “hot spots,” and devised and placed more than five miles of drip irrigation system to ensure success for her plantings.

Further evidence of Kimberly’s concern is her outreach to neighbors. She has convinced neighbors owning approximately 5,000 acres that they should improve the conservation value of their lands. Perhaps more important, Kimberly is devoted to educating youngsters about the importance of treating land with resect. She actively promotes her wetlands as outdoor laboratories for children from the local school district. Kimberly’s devotion to her land and education of children about the great outdoors is without equal in New Mexico.

— Charles L. Mullins, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Land Stewardship and Development

As president of a development company in Central Ohio, Robin W. Green is seeking to redefine the relationship between residential developments and the environment. Her project, Hidden Creek at the Darby, incorporates the stream corridor of more than 1.5 miles of Little Darby Creek, a National Wild and Scenic River and one of The Nature Conservancy’s “Last Great Places.” Construction of Hidden Creek at the Darby, which was originally targeted by other developers for a high-density golf course, included creating wetlands within the stream corridor as part of an innovative system of stormwater collection and treatment. Additionally, the 230-acre stream corridor and adjacent wetlands within the development were preserved in a conservation easement held by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

A former lawyer in private practice and former Executive Director of the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Robin provides consulting services to other developers nationally on how to approach development with sensitivity to environmental resources. Her project provides an excellent example of environmental sound development practices for other developers to follow.

— Robert Monsarrat, Jr., Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

Education and Outreach

Kathy Kramer has used her energy and enthusiasm to develop wetland and watershed education programs that have reached thousands of educators and members of the public and tens of thousands of students in the San Francisco Bay Area. Among her accomplishments are the innovative program for teachers “Kinds in Creeks” and “Kinds in Marshes,” which have inspired numerous school-based action projects. Through her Teacher Action Grants program, more than $50,000 has been distributed in small grants to help teachers develop wetland restoration and education projects. Each year, more than 200 teachers attend a conference Kathy organizes on teaching about creeks, wetlands, and watersheds that is now in its ninth year. In addition, she developed a computer program on the San Francisco Bay Estuary, which runs as a permanent exhibit in museums and visitor centers around the area and is used by hundreds of educators to teach wetland ecology.

In 1997, Kathy founded the Aquatic Outreach Institute, a nonprofit organization that seeks to inspire community involvement and action to protect the Bay Estuary and the watershed that surrounds it. Kathy is a major force behind aquatic conservation in the region, and her passion for environmental conservation has empowered people of all ages to view themselves as environmental stewards rather than indifferent bystanders.

— Rainer Hoenicke, Ph.D., San Francisco Estuary Institute

Science Research

Through his work as a professor and researcher at Louisiana State University, Gene Turner has contributed a great deal to wetland conservation and management. His most important contributions have stemmed from his ability to look at the big picture: He has an extraordinary talent for synthesizing large datasets to test broad hypotheses about wetland functions. Twenty years ago, his study on the relationship between commercial shrimp harvests and wetland acreage clearly showed the implications of wetland loss for coastal fisheries. His was one of the first works to quantify the economic value of coastal wetlands. Most recently, his research has focused on science-based, cost-effective management strategies for wetlands restoration. This work will help determine effective and economic restoration goals. He also has demonstrated the influence of estuarine processes on the continental shelf and examined nationwide losses of bottomland hardwood forest habitats.

Gene was instrumental in organizing the International Ecology (INTECOL) Wetlands Working Group, which he now chairs. He has served on multiple advisory committees relating to wetland resources in Louisiana and the Everglades. Through his contributions to our understanding of wetland ecosystem functions, his work on effective wetland restoration, and his emphasis on the use of science to guide policy, Gene has been a major influence on wetlands protection and management in the United States and abroad.

— Joy Zedler, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, and John Callaway, Ph.D., Gabrielle Vivianne-Smith, Ph.D., and Julie Desmond, M.S., Pacific Estuarine Research Laboratory

 

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