About the NWAs | Awardees | The Ceremony | Nominations | Contact Us
2006 National Wetlands Award Recipients
Education and Outreach
Royal C. Gardner
Florida
Science Research
Curtis J. Richardson
North Carolina
Wetland Community Leader
Chester A. McConnell
Alabama
Landowner Stewardship
The Higel Family
Colorado
State, Tribal, and Local Program Development
Francisco J. Abarca
Arizona
Conservation and Restoration
Alan P. Ammann
New Hampshire
Education and Outreach
Royal C. Gardner
Stetson University
College of Law
Gulfport, Florida
Professor Royal C. Gardner is director of the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy and professor of law at Stetson University College of Law. A gifted educator and scholar, he strives to bring together disparate groups to increase national and international awareness of the need for effective legal wetland protection.
Professor Gardner’s publications focus on wetland mitigation and restoration policies, with an emphasis on mitigation banking. His work as a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Mitigating Wetland Losses contributed to a recent reexamination of federal wetland mitigation policies.
Professor Gardner has lectured on wetland issues to audiences throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa. In 1996, he co-founded Stetson University’s Annual International Environmental Moot Court Competition, an event designed to increase international awareness of environmental concerns, including wetland protection. More than 60 teams from around the globe vie for a spot in the competition’s international finals. Professor Gardner also developed an interdisciplinary wetland seminar at Stetson University that introduces law students to wetland policy and science.
He holds leadership positions in the U.S. National Ramsar Committee and the American Bar Association, and is the North American representative to the Ramsar Scientific and Technical Review Panel.
Science Research
Curtis J. Richardson
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
Dr. Curtis J. Richardson received a PhD in ecology from the University of Tennessee. He is now a professor in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University, where he is the founder and director of the Duke Wetlands Center. He has been involved in wetland research, policy, and service for nearly 30 years.
He has authored or co-authored more than 150 papers and reports, including seminal works on phosphorus cycling and retention in wetlands. Since 2003, Dr. Richardson has been a scientific advisor to Iraqi ecologists working to restore the marshlands in southern Iraq. He has managed large-scale research projects such as the multi-investigator effort examining the impact of hydrological and nutrient alterations on the restoration of the Everglades. He has also been a mentor to some of the leading wetland scientists of this generation. Dr. Richardson served as vice-president and president of the Society of Wetland Scientists. He is a fellow of SWS, the Soil Science Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Richardson is committed to translating his research into realistic management techniques that can sustain wetland ecological functions. Throughout his career, he has pioneered groundbreaking approaches to making sound science an integral part of public policy decisions.
Conservation and Restoration
Alan P. Ammann
Lee, New Hampshire
As a former wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, and as a volunteer and consultant during his retirement, Dr. Alan P. Ammann has led an interagency effort to restore salt marshes and other native ecosystems in coastal New Hampshire.
Dr. Ammann initiated a multi-disciplinary survey of tidal restrictions on the New Hampshire coast. The resulting 1994 NRCS publication Evaluation of Restorable Salt Marshes in New Hampshire has been the blueprint for the identification and restoration of more than 400 acres of degraded salt marsh. Dr. Ammann directed a restoration project on the Little River in North Hampton that won the 2002 Coastal America Award. He also was the principle author of The Method for the Evaluation of Inland Wetlands in Connecticut and The Method for the Evaluation of Inland Wetlands in New Hampshire and was a co-creator of the hydrogeomorphic approach to wetland functional assessment.
Dr. Ammann recently organized an interagency work group to address the problem of invasive plants on the New Hampshire coast. This collaboration resulted in the restoration of a small pitch pine woodland on rocky coastal outcrop, an extremely rare habitat type in New England. Dr. Ammann currently is involved in the restoration of native ecosystems in Odiorne Point State Park in Rye, New Hampshire.
Landowner Stewardship
The Higel Family
The Higel Ranch
Alamosa, Colorado
The Higel Family has owned and operated the Higel Ranch on the Rio Grande in Colorado’s San Luis Valley since the early 1900s. The ranch is operated by Jim Higel and his wife Janet, their son and daughter-in-law Greg and Shondell Higel, and their grandchildren Cory, Taylor, and Alec.
In 1997, the Higels sold half of their riparian corridor land and substantial water rights to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, creating the Higel State Wildlife Area. The Higels now help manage the land, continuing traditional cattle grazing and haying while sustaining habitat for wildlife such as the federally endangered southwestern willow flycatcher. The Higels are also permanently protecting their private land through a conservation easement with Ducks Unlimited, supported by the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants, and the El Pomar Foundation.
Active service in their community and the importance of water for agriculture and wildlife are priorities for the Higels. Jim served on the Rio Grande Water Users (a regional water owners’ organization) in the 1960s and was one of the original members of the Rio Grande Senior Water Users. Greg currently serves on the boards of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, Rio Grande Senior Water Users, Rio Grande Basin Roundtable, and Rio Grande Headwaters Restoration Foundation.
State, Tribal, and Local Program Development
Francisco J. Abarca
Arizona Game and Fish Department
Phoenix, Arizona
Mr. Francisco J. Abarca received a BS in aquatic ecology and zoology from the National University of Mexico in Mexico City. He graduated from Arizona State University with an MS in zoology.
As the Borderland Projects Manager with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Mr. Abarca collaborates with a spectrum of partners to promote binational and trinational wildlife and wetland collaboration. In 1996, Mr. Abarca helped create the Veracruz Model, a capacity building and outreach program for wetland conservation in Mexico. This program has provided conservation training to and promoted partnerships among more than 250 people from various agencies in Mexico, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the international Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources recognized the model with an Outstanding Wetlands Conservation Award in 2006.
Mr. Abarca, who also has produced wetland-themed TV, radio, and print media programs, recently launched a series of nature workshops targeted to minority students in the Phoenix metropolitan area. During its first year, the program inspired more than 200 young scholars from the Hispanic community to get involved in wetland conservation. Whether at a local or international scale, Mr. Abarca has consistently demonstrated professionalism, diplomacy, and passion in the conservation of wetland resources in North America.
Wetland Community Leader
Chester A. McConnell
Mobile, Alabama
Mr. Chester A. McConnell has devoted his professional and personal energies to researching, monitoring, and protecting wildlife species, and has focused for decades on wetlands and streams.
Mr. McConnell served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1960 to 1963, then obtained an MS in wildlife management and botany. He then spent nine years as a wildlife biologist for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, researching small game species and overseeing two wildlife management areas.
In 1974, Mr. McConnell became the southeastern field representative for the private, nonprofit Wildlife Management Institute. He remained in this role, collaborating with government agencies, industry representatives, private landowners, and conservationists to protect wildlife habitat, until his retirement in 1999. As a field representative, Mr. McConnell reviewed wetland permit applications and project documents to assess potential wetland impacts. He wrote comments that encouraged applicants to improve their plans and discouraged agencies from permitting unsound projects. When persuasion was not enough, Mr. McConnell used public scrutiny and legal mechanisms to derail environmentally harmful plans.
Mr. McConnell now uses his personal resources to protect wetlands and streams. He and his wife Dorothy recently placed their 134-acre property in a conservation easement program with the Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation so that the property will remain in its natural state in perpetuity.