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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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2001 National Wetlands Award Recipients

 

Outstanding Program Development

Ernie Barnett is the director of Ecosystem Projects with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He coordinates the department’s ecosystem restoration and protection projects, and he coordinates the department’s efforts to restore the South Florida ecosystem. Mr. Barnett has worked with the department for 17 years, serving previously as a shellfish biologist, aquatic preserve manager, environmental administrator, and water management administrator. During his tenure, he has authored and co-authored 32 publications and agency reports on a variety of subjects. In addition, Mr. Barnett has contributed to the passage of several landmark environmental laws in the Florida Legislature and in the U.S. Congress. He co-authored the state’s Oil Pollution Control Act of 1992, which established the first natural resource damage assessment procedure in the country. Mr. Barnett helped draft and lobby for the successful passage of ecosystem management and Everglades restoration legislation during the 1995, 1996, 1999, and 2000 Florida legislative sessions. During the 2000 Florida legislative session, he was the lead state agent for the successful passage of the Lake Okeechobee Protection Act and the Everglades Restoration Investment Act, which dedicates $1 billion for Everglades restoration over 10 years. At the national level, Mr. Barnett helped secure passage of the Water Resource Development Act of 2000, which authorized the $7.8-billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. His environmental programs have been recognized for excellence in government by the Council of State Governments, and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, among others.

— John Outland, Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, Florida

Outstanding Program Development

Shannon Estenoz’s roots in the mangrove-rimmed wetlands of South Florida run deep. She is a fifth-generation native of Key West, who has dedicated her career to restoring the Everglades. As national co-chair of the 41-member Everglades Coalition and director of World Wildlife Fund’s Everglades office, Ms. Estenoz led the successful campaign to secure the landmark bipartisan legislation authorizing a 30-year, $7.8-billion program to restore the Everglades.

Ms. Estenoz worked tirelessly to convince state and federal agencies to craft the comprehensive Everglades restoration plan that gives priority to ecosystem restoration. As a member of Governor Jeb Bush’s Commission for the Everglades, the South Florida Water Management District’s Lower East Coast Water Supply Committee, and an alternate member of the Governor’s Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, Ms. Estenoz relied on her training as a civil engineer to question long-held assumptions about flood control and water supply requirements hindering Everglades restoration.

In all of her work, Shannon Estenoz has won the admiration and respect of her colleagues in the environmental community, government, agriculture, and industry. She is inspired by the desire to insure that the Everglades remain for her son Nicholas to enjoy, and she deeply believes the words of Marjory Stoneman Douglas: “Perhaps, even in this last hour, in a new relation of usefulness and beauty, the vast, magnificent, subtle and unique region of the Everglades may not be utterly lost.”

— William Robert Irvin, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC

Volunteer Leadership

In a successful organization such as Oxbow, Incorporated, a group of dedicated, hard-working people generally form its core. Within that strong core, one pivotal person often comprises the organization’s heart and defines its success. For Oxbow, Inc., this heart is Norma Flannery. While many members throughout the organization’s 15-year history have worked hard and have given of their time and talents in unique ways, Ms. Flannery, goes the extra mile. With tenacity and resolution, she sees projects through to completion, and she wins the respect of those who work alongside her.

Oxbow, Inc. is a non-profit volunteer organization formed for the protection of the 2,700-acre wetland at the confluence of the Great Miami, Whitewater, and Ohio Rivers. Since the organization of this Ohio and Indiana citizen’s group in 1985, Norma Flannery has served the cause of wetland protection and education as a founding member, president, newsletter editor, land negotiator, and voice on the telephone. Oxbow, Inc., through the work of many citizen volunteers and the unfailing direction of Ms. Flannery, has protected 2,100 acres of the Oxbow wetlands and benefitted the waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, raptors, and plant communities of these wetlands, as well as surrounding family farms. Ms. Flannery is respected and listened to by farmers, landowners, local planning boards, and state agencies. She is a role model as a negotiator for wetland protection-patient but persistent, friendly but firm. She is also a role model for citizen stewardship of natural resources and a voice for wildlife. Ms. Flannery has given of her retirement years freely to provide a lasting legacy of wildlife habitat.

— Bonnie Fancher, Switzerland County High School, Vevay, Indiana

Science Research

Dr. James G. Gosselink has been a leader in wetland ecology for more than 40 years as a scientist and scholar and as a communicator of science. He has authored and co-authored more than 100 scientific contributions on wetland ecology, and he has collaborated with virtually every federal agency responsible for managing wetlands in North America. Most recently, he has worked to improve the scientific basis for understanding and managing bottomland hardwood wetlands and to protect them from losses due to the cumulative impacts of many small individual decisions. He co-authored one of the most widely read books on wetland ecology and management-Wetlands, now enjoying its third edition. The publication has become widely regarded as the premier reference book on wetland ecology, and it is perhaps the only book that synthesizes wetland ecology at a landscape scale.

Dr. Gosselink, currently emeritus professor at Louisiana State University’s Coastal Ecology Institute, continues to participate as a scientist and citizen in national and international dialogues, studies, and policy guidance on wetland values. His academic and experienced leadership has inspired students and colleagues for more than three decades. His respect for science and his dedication to the constructive engagement of science in law, policy, and citizen action make him a seasoned voice for sound wetland conservation and management worldwide. A colleague recently described him succinctly and precisely: “When Jim Gosselink speaks, everyone stops to listen.”

— R. Eugene Turner, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Land Stewardship and Development

After a rainy night in 1976, Ken Brunswick awoke one April morning and saw hundreds of acres of his dairy farm flooded. He later discovered that his inundated farmland once belonged to the great Limberlost Swamp he had read about in his youth. The flooding of his property stirred his interest in the former swamp, and later he restored two wetlands on his farm. Mr. Brunswick’s affection for swamps continued, and in 1990 he began working for Jay County and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, contacting landowners about wetland restoration programs. He loved working with landowners on natural resource issues and soon sold his dairy herd to begin a new career. He enrolled in Ball State University’s natural resources program in 1993. While a student, Mr. Brunswick worked for Whitley County Soil and Water Conservation District and as the coordinator of Friends of the Limberlost. As if he didn’t already have enough to do, he worked with ACRES Land Trust and Limberlost State Historic Site to develop a plan to restore part of the drained 13,000-acre Limberlost Swamp. Through his volunteer efforts, the Limberlost Swamp Remembered project was born. Thanks to Mr. Brunswick’s ability to convince landowners to place their lands into the Wetland Reserve Program, the 428-acre Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve was dedicated in 1997.

Today Ken is the wetland coordinator for Limberlost State Historic Site, overseeing its restoration. His wetland expertise and his outreach programs have been invaluable, and he is an important bridge between the agricultural community and local citizens. His combination of gentle persuasion and knowledge of Limberlost Swamp make him an excellent spokesperson for wetland restoration.

— Sherry Studebaker, Friends of the Limberlost, Incorporated, Geneva, Indiana

Land Stewardship and Development

When Mike McNeil heads out to check his cattle on a March day, he’s likely to see amongst his grazing animals some of the 20-30,000 sandhill cranes and perhaps even rare whooping cranes that visit his ranch during their northerly migration. The McNeil Ranch’s lush wet meadows complement the wetland habitat of the adjacent Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge. As the fourth generation on the land, the McNeils practice holistic management to enhance the ecological health of their land while sustaining its agricultural profitability.

In response to the pressures of real estate development that are impacting much of Colorado’s high country ranch lands, the McNeils are working to secure the future of the Rock Creek corridor. Along with their neighbors, the McNeils helped form the Rock Creek Heritage Project, a landowner initiative to protect and enhance a block of approximately 15,000 acres of agricultural land and water. With the support of American Farmland Trust, the McNeils will permanently protect their own 3,033 acres, and they have garnered the active support of national and regional nonprofit organizations and the federal government. Cathy McNeil is also the founding president of the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust, serving the 8,000-square-mile San Luis Valley, and she serves on the Rio Grande Soil Conservation District Board. She and Mr. McNeil are members of the San Luis Valley Wetlands Focus Area Committee and are founding members of Friends of the Alamosa/Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuges. With friends like the McNeils, wetlands in the San Luis Valley have a hopeful future and superb partners in the ranching community.

— Rio de la Vista, American Farmland Trust, Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Education and Outreach

Jolly Giant Creek is a small waterway running along the western boundary of Arcata High School, where Louis Armin-Hoiland teaches biology. Concerned about environmental degradation, Mr. Armin-Hoiland initiated a project in 1987 with several of his classes to restore a small section of the creek. Fourteen years later, the project is still going strong, and it has expanded to include multiple restoration programs within the watersheds of Jolly Giant and Janes Creeks. Since its beginnings, Mr. Armin-Hoiland developed coalitions and sought resources throughout the private and public sectors to meet goals and objectives. Participants in the Jolly Giant Creek Restoration Project include high school students, university professors, county officials, state agency representatives, regional conservation groups, and local businesses. These partnerships enabled the project to move well beyond its original boundaries.

Under Mr. Armin-Hoiland’s direction, high school students are empowered to improve their local environment and to become advocates for change. The restoration project emphasizes improving water quality, fish habitat, riparian vegetation, and appropriate land use. Guided by these principals, Mr. Armin-Hoiland, his students, and the community have returned the watershed to a flourishing ecosystem for native fish, birds, and other organisms.

Through Louis Armin-Hoiland’s vision and leadership, the Jolly Giant Creek Restoration Project is an ongoing community success that captures the imagination and marshals the energies of the high school and the rest of the city. The project’s success is reflected in the pride and sense of accomplishment that people in Arcata feel when referring to Jolly Giant Creek.

— Bob Wallace, Arcata High School, Arcata, California

 

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