About the NWAs | Awardees | The Ceremony | Nominations | Contact Us
2005 National Wetlands Award Recipients
Education and Outreach
Martin Main
Florida
Science Research
Barbara Bedford
New York
Wetland Community Leader
Barth Crouch
Kansas
Hazel Sinclair
Louisiana
Landowner Stewardship
Neil Bien
South Dakota
State, Tribal, and Local Program Development
Tom Foti
Arkansas
Conservation and Restoration
Catherine Macdonald
Oregon
Education and Outreach
Martin Main
University of Florida
Immokalee, Florida
Dr. Martin Main, an educator and naturalist with an MS in biological oceanography, a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology, and experience in environmental policy at the national level, knows that people will not conserve what they do not understand. Since many of Florida’s citizens and visitors know little about the state’s unique ecosystems, Dr. Main sought to promote understanding and respect for Florida’s natural world by developing the Florida Master Naturalist Program (FMNP), a statewide environmental education and interpretive training program for adults.
Today, a network of more than 150 trained educators from 90 organizations provides FMNP training. Dr. Main designed three teaching modules that describe the ecology, flora and fauna, and conservation challenges associated with Florida’s coastal, freshwater, and upland environments. Each module provides 40 hours of instruction and award-winning educational materials. The modules also incorporate practical learning experiences, such as field trips and interpretive speaking sessions.
Over the last three years, more than 1,500 citizens from all walks of life have earned FMNP certificates. These individuals now volunteer at community nature centers, speak to school children, and restore Florida’s natural areas. Program graduates are helping build a stronger conservation ethic in Florida by sharing their love and ethusiasm for the natural world.
Science Research
Barbara Bedford
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
Dr. Barbara Bedford is a senior research associate in the Department of Natural Resources of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, and is director of the Ecosystems Research Center there. She earned her MS and Ph.D. in land resources from the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Dr. Bedford engages in cutting-edge and widely published research on landscape-level approaches to wetland science and management, focusing on the importance of regional hydrology and biodiversity in wetland systems. She excels at integrating her research with her teaching, allowing students to gain first-hand experience with the practice of wetland science and understand pressing wetland research questions. The college awarded Dr. Bedford its Young Faculty Teaching Excellence Award for her impact on students.
A committed member of the scientific community, Dr. Bedford advocates for the use of sound science in decisionmaking by serving on numerous review and advisory committees, including the National Research Council Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem and the advisory board of the Smithsonian Institution Environmental Research Center.
She resides in Ithaca with her husband Chuck Geisler and their daughter Kate.
Conservation and Restoration
Catherine Macdonald
The Nature Conservancy of Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Ms. Catherine Macdonald was an undergraduate at Humboldt State University when she first worked with The Nature Conservancy as a volunteer preserve manager in the late 1970s. That experience inspired her ongoing commitment to wetland conservation.
Since 1984 Ms. Macdonald has served as either director of stewardship or director of conservation programs for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Oregon. She has used her unique combination of optimism, dedication, creative problem solving, humor, scientific credibility, and relationship-building skills to foster partnerships among private landowners, nonprofits, and public agencies and to achieve the conservation and restoration of tens of thousands of wetland acres in Oregon.
In addition to expanding the TNC portfolio of protected wetlands, Ms. Macdonald has assisted federal agencies, local governments, and land trusts in completing acquisitions and restoration projects throughout the state. She currently is working with neighboring states on eco-regional conservation plans and representing TNC on several national task forces.
Ms. Macdonald truly enjoys working with people to make progress on conservation issues. Her work over the past 20 years demonstrates that conservation can be extraordinarily successful when pursued with a positive, optimistic, proactive approach based on a spirit of collaboration. She has created an inspirational legacy of wetland conservation.
Landowner Stewardship
Neil Bien
Bien Ranch
Veblen, South Dakota
Mr. Neil Bien was the second of seven children born on land in South Dakota originally homesteaded by his greatgrandmother and grandfather. He attended a one-room country school for grades 1-8, graduated from Veblen High School, received degrees in biology and chemistry from Northern State University, and pursued graduate studies at South Dakota State University.
He began managing the family beef ranch at age 18, upon the death of his father. Mr. Bien managed the ranch while attending school and later while teaching high school biology. Since ending his 16-year teaching career, he has ranched full time, increasing the ranch’s acreage and livestock numbers and building its infrastructure. He has restored 15 wetlands, totaling approximately 120-150 acres, and has preserved 100 natural wetlands.
Mr. Bien has served on several state commissions, including the South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks Commission and the South Dakota Association of Conservation Districts. He also serves on several local boards, including the Marshall County Conservation District, the Lake Region Electric Co-op, the Four Seasons Cenex Co-op, and hospital and church councils. He and his wife, Muriel, have two sons—Dr. Matt (Darcie) Bien and Lance (Sheila) Bien—and six cherished grandchildren.
State, Tribal, and Local Program Development
Tom Foti
Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission
Little Rock, Arkansas
Mr. Tom Foti’s three-decade career has had a great impact on the wetlands of Arkansas. His work at the Arkansas Ecology Center helped save the Cache River, now a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, from channelization. Mr. Foti conducted the first inventory of natural areas in Arkansas, which resulted in his publication of “The Natural Divisions of Arkansas” in The Natural Area Plan, and the creation of the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC).
Since joining the ANHC in 1985, Mr. Foti has identified and protected natural communities of the state, including many uncommon wetlands. He coauthored the hydrogeomorphic classification of Arkansas wetlands and the five regional guidebooks for HGM assessment in Arkansas. He worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to improve and subdivide Arkansas’s ecoregions and with NatureServe to refine the U.S. National Vegetation Classification to better reflect wetland diversity in the state.
Because of Mr. Foti’s involvement in a broad range of projects, a consistency is emerging in the way that the state and its partners describe, restore, and manage wetlands within the greater context of their ecological systems, ecoregions, and the state as a whole. Finally, Mr. Foti also is a highly productive author whose works range from technical research papers to popular works for general audiences, including school children.
Wetland Community Leader
Barth Crouch
Kansas Alliance for Wetlands
Salina, Kansas
Mr. Barth Crouch has spent his career monitoring and protecting wildlife species and enhancing their habitats. Mr. Crouch holds degrees in geological engineering and wildlife and fisheries sciences. From 1976 to 1990 he was a wildlife conservation officer and regional game supervisor for the South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks Department.
Since 1990 Mr. Crouch has been a regional biologist for the nonprofit Pheasants Forever. He works with government agencies, landowners, and organization chapters to implement habitat projects that benefit pheasants and upland birds. He also assists the Pheasants Forever governmental relations staff with lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Crouch is treasurer, grant administrator, and a founding member of the Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams (KAWS). KAWS is a nonprofit dedicated to securing healthy futures for wetlands, streams, and adjacent riparian areas. Over the last two years, KAWS has implemented more than 100 projects on public and private lands, supported by more than $4.3 million in grant monies.
Mr. Crouch also serves on the board of directors for the Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV). The mission of PLJV is to conserve playa lakes, wetlands, and associated landscapes in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Wetland Community Leader
Hazel Sinclair
Covington, Louisiana
Ms. Hazel Sinclair, a high school biology teacher and a New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana native, is passionate about nature, her state’s coastal wetlands, and public education. These values led her to produce a documentary film that explores the role of Louisiana’s alligator ranching industry in wetland preservation.
In 1999 a 200-acre subdivision was sited in a pristine wetland near her home. Ms. Sinclair spent more than five years leading an effort to protect the area, working with fifteen civic groups, speaking at public meetings, holding media events, using scientific data, promoting conservation techniques, pursuing legal proceedings, and partnering with government entities.
Assisted by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, Ms. Sinclair helped reverse the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ section 404 wetland permit for the subdivision. The landmark federal court ruling was a victory for her community and set a precedent for future court challenges on behalf of wetlands. She and the clinic also successfully overturned the project’s state-issued water quality permit.
In 2003 Ms. Sinclair joined a local committee lobbying for green space protection. Recognizing a serious need to educate her community about the value of wetland protection, she wrote, produced, and financed a 30-minute documentary on wetlands, Living Infrastructure, that aired on local television stations.