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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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1999 National Wetlands Award Recipients

 

Outstanding Program Development

Representative Willard Munger has been a leader of environmental protection in Minnesota since he was elected to its legislature in 1954. As a newly-elected representative of Duluth, he began with a series of initiatives to reduce water pollution in Lake Superior. Shortly thereafter, he turned his attention to pesticides, including DDT. Over the years, he authored dozens of groundbreaking environmental bills.

In 1991, as chair of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, he led the effort to increase protection of the state’s wetlands beyond that provided by federal law, resulting in passage of the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act. Now a statewide law administered locally, it requires no net loss of wetlands for even very small discharge and drainage activities. Rep. Munger also played a key role in passing a constitutional amendment creating the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, which pays for long-term environmental research, protection, and enhancement. The Trust Fund has been used to build Minnesota’s extensive parks and trails system and to restore wetland and riparian ecosystems, including 150 miles of riparian corridor along rivers flowing into his beloved Lake Superior.

Rep. Munger was influenced by his grandfather who told him, “If you want to preserve a livable environment for future generations...you have to do something, and to do something, you have to run for office!” Over the years, Rep. Munger has passed this advice and the lessons of environmental lawmaking along to many others.

— Mark Nelson, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources; Cheryl Miller, National Audubon Society, St. Paul, Minnesota

Outstanding Program Development

Dee Arntz co-founded the Washington Wetlands Network (Wetnet) in 1990 to link and support people and organizations working to protect wetlands. Dee acquired $400,000 in grants for the establishment of Wetnet, hired staff, and developed (with King County, Washington, and Adopt-a-Beach) the Watershed-Community Link, a model citizen science volunteer monitoring program. Under her leadership, Wetnet trained more than 1,000 citizens and local government officials in protecting wetlands, and it created a database to study local wetland protection.

Dee was instrumental in the 1996 formation of the National Audubon Society’s Wetlands Campaign, a grassroots program to empower community-based wetland conservation. In 1997, Dee developed a circuit rider pilot program for the campaign. In the last two years, she has met with 50 Audubon chapters in 15 states to help advance local wetlands protection, restoration, and stewardship projects.

While building Wetnet, Dee continued in her professional capacity as a community development program administrator for King County and other Puget Sound local governments. She also served on the boards of the Seattle Audubon Society, the Nisqually Delta Association, and the Washington Environmental Council. In 1995, she earned a Certificate in Wetlands Science and Management from the University of Washington.

— Naki Stevens, National Audubon Society Wetlands Campaign, Seattle, Washington

Volunteer Leadership

Molly Brown began her public crusade to protect wetlands and wildlife habitat in Virginia Beach more than a decade ago. In 1988, Molly reinvigorated the Friends of Back Bay to support the expansion of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. She has worked tirelessly with congressional members and staff to secure land acquisition appropriations for the refuge now totaling more than $12 million. Her support of the refuge wetlands protection program, however, reaches far beyond land acquisition. Using her skills as a former elementary school teacher, Molly can often be found on the refuge guiding students in outdoor classroom activities. She uses her position as a board member of the National Wildlife Refuge Association to educate land managers and other volunteers across the United States on the effectiveness of “friends groups.”

Two of her most recent campaigns involved combating threats to a bald cypress swamp in the refuge. Molly successfully worked with several government agencies and concerned citizens to re-route a sanitary sewer away from the swamp and fought a new road planned for the same area. As a result of her efforts, the city instead funded improvements to the existing roadway and is examining long range alternatives that would eliminate the need for future road construction in this sensitive wetland area.

Molly’s effectiveness stems from her unique combination of graciousness, tenacity, and personal integrity. She has become a role model for all of us who seek to bridge the public and private sectors as we work collectively toward wetland conservation.

— Joseph F. McCauley, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hadley, Massachusetts

Land Stewardship and Development

Norman Haigh has devoted a lifetime to restoring the productivity of farmland in the Lower Mississippi Valley. In 1997, Norman and two partners purchased a degraded 2,700-acre plantation in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, known as Dixie Plantation, which he planned to manage as a productive row-crop farm as well as a model for conservation. Utilizing his own hydrological experience, the support of his partners, and the technical assistance of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Norman installed ditches, improved roads, installed water control structures and water supply wells, and connected the farm’s wetlands to the water source via an underground delivery system. Approximately 1,000 acres were dedicated to wildlife, and two natural lakes were restored by diverting agricultural water from neighboring farms.

More than 1,000 acres have now been placed in the USDA’s Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) under permanent protection. He erected wood duck boxes, installed grassed waterways, managed moist soil plants, and reforested most of the WRP acreage to bottomland hardwoods. Deer are being managed under the state’s Deer Management Program, and the farm annually winters several thousand waterfowl and shorebirds.

Norman’s example of managing both the agricultural and wildlife values to their optimum set an example for his neighbors-Tensas Parish is now one of the leading WRP parishes in the country.

— Ray Aycock, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi

Land Stewardship and Development

As Champion International Corporation’s Northeast Region Wildlife Biologist, Gary Donovan leads the management of cultural and natural resources associated with the 1.3 million acres of Champion land in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. His riparian strategy to restore and protect water quality, fish and wildlife, and ecological functions exceeds current regulations and utilizes variable buffer widths keyed to stream size and geomorphic characteristics. The strategy is an excellent example of forest wetland stewardship within a working commercial forest. It was reviewed and endorsed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, researchers at the University of Maine, fish and wildlife biologists of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, forest ecologists at the White Mountain National Forest, and leaders of conservation groups.

The former director of wildlife for Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Gary continues his professional ties to the region’s state agencies and local conservation groups. He has been the driving force behind Project SHARE (Salmon Habitat and River Enhancement), a voluntary cooperative project started in 1994 and involving state and federal agencies, local businesses, conservation groups, private landowners, and academic institutions, all working for the conservation of Atlantic salmon in the downeast rivers of Maine. Project SHARE has received numerous awards including a recent Chevron Conservation Award.

— James M. Sweeney, Champion International Corporation, Washington, DC

Education and Outreach

Pat Willis has phenomenal energy, vision, and a gift for making things happen. The executive director of Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, a 650-acre wetland, his program provides students of all ages with the skills and tools they need to involve themselves in their communities as active, contributing citizens. These programs reach more than 20,000 students every year.

Pat translated the vision of Jackson Bottom into a wealth of exciting new projects and programs. He is responsible for designing the education, habitat restoration, research, and water quality programs at the preserve. His education programs connect citizens to authentic wetland projects and accomplishments at Jackson Bottom and throughout the Tualatin River Watershed.

The programs at Jackson Bottom include a Biodiversity Field Program, Water Quality Traveling Programs, Tualatin Watershed Involvement Program, and Field Natural History teacher in-services. All of these programs create opportunities for citizens to interact with their communities through involvement and participation in real world projects that increase the capacity of the communities. Pat successfully combined the resources from Jackson Bottom with the arts, music, and ecosystem restoration to offer citizens an opportunity to build a sense of place within the landscape.

Pat is also an adjunct science instructor at three universities and a frequent speaker at workshops and conferences. His easy-going manner and great sense of humor make him very effective, well liked, and respected in the workplace and in the community.

— Lynn Wilson-Dean, Metro Regional Parks and Greenspaces, Portland, Oregon

Science Research

John Teal is an exceptional scientist-citizen assisting with problem-solving in local, national, and international communities. He has participated in several classic studies of wetlands, including those addressing element cycling, natural history, oil spills, crabs, and birds. His service activities have involved the National Research Council, U.S. Departments of Interior and Energy, the Smithsonian Institution, the World Conservation Union, the Conservation Law Foundation of New England, regional boards, and numerous academic review panels. Dr. Teal currently serves as science advisor for Delaware Bay, the largest wetland restoration program on the northeast coast of the United States, and as president of the Society of Wetland Scientists.

Dr. Teal is probably best known by the lay public for his immensely popular book, Life and Death of the Salt Marsh, co-authored with Mildred Teal 30 years ago and still in print. It continues to bring a scientist’s view of coastal marshes to the eyes of amateur and professional students of nature. He has also authored articles on oceanography for children, entries for encyclopedias, and several natural history books.

John Teal epitomizes the freshness and risk-taking that a seasoned scientist brings to serious and consequential discussions about wetlands. He asks fair, straightforward, and penetrating questions without regard to politics, but with diplomatic insight. He takes the initiative to promote sound management and conservation, and exemplifies the constructive role that scientists can play in management and policy discussions.

— R. Eugene Turner, Louisiana State University; Joy Zedler, University of Wisconsin; William Mitsch, Ohio State University

 

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