About the NWAs | Awardees | The Ceremony | Nominations | Contact Us
2007 National Wetlands Award Recipients
Education and Outreach
Jeanne Christie
Maine
Science Research
Paul Keddy
Louisiana
Wetland Community Leader
Alice Wellford
Virginia
Landowner Stewardship
The Brockway Family
Iowa
State, Tribal, and Local Program Development
Lynda Saul
Montana
Conservation and Restoration
Jeff Nania
Wisconsin
Education and Outreach
Jeanne Christie
Association of State
Wetland Managers
Windham, Maine
Jeanne Christie is Executive Director of the Association of State Wetland Managers, Inc., an organization dedicated to incorporating sound science into public policy. She is responsible for developing the overall strategic directions and programs for the Association. The Association tackles a wide variety of issues affecting wetlands and related aquatic resources and works in cooperation with many other organizations to identify opportunities to protect, conserve and manage wetland resources in ways that will ensure sustainable water resources for current and future generations of Americans as well as native plants and wildlife.
Ms. Christie’s work centers on providing accurate, balanced information on wetlands through a variety of formats including workshops, conferences, speeches, web pages, white papers, conference calls, the Association’s bi-monthly newsletter, and ASWM’s monthly e-zine Wetland Breaking News. She is privileged to work with a large number of talented and knowledgeable professionals who willingly share their time and expertise in assisting ASWM’s efforts to develop and distribute useful, timely information. Many of the products developed over the years have influenced the formation of wetland policies and programs at the national, state, and local level.
Ms. Christie is a 1983 graduate of the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Prior to joining ASWM in 1999, she worked for the City of Presque Isle, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on watershed, wildlife and wetland issues. For nine years she lived on the good ship No Net Loss on the Potomac River in Washington, DC. Ms. Christie currently resides in a 150-year old farm house in Windham, Maine with her husband Larry and their “found” dog and cats.
Science Research
Paul Keddy
Southeastern Louisiana University
Hammond, Louisiana
Dr. Paul A. Keddy received a Ph.D. in plant ecology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He served on the faculty at the University of Guelph and the University of Ottawa before becoming the first holder of the Edward G. Schlieder Endowed Chair for Environmental Studies at Southeastern Louisiana University. He became a leader in the field of wetland plant ecology very early in his 30 years of service.
Dr. Keddy has authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific papers on wetland ecology and plant conservation, authored three books: Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation; Competition; and Plants and Vegetation: Origins, Processes, Consequences, and co-edited two books: The World’s Largest Wetlands: Ecology and Conservation and Ecological Assembly Rules: Perspectives, Advances, Retreats. He received a Society of Wetland Scientists Merit Award for his Wetland Ecology book, two awards for Competition, and was designated as a Highly Cited Researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information. Dr. Keddy and his former students and collaborators completed a host of studies in wetlands of Ontario and elsewhere that largely define the current understanding of plant competition and responses to environmental gradients and various forms of disturbance in northern temperate wetlands. Since moving to Louisiana, his focus has been on competitive interactions among freshwater wetland plants and responses to environmental disturbances, including herbivory, burning, sedimentation, nutrient influx, and hurricane impacts.
Dr. Keddy has repeatedly carried his work beyond reporting of results to address conservation and management implications in wetlands and to further the theoretical understanding of how wetland plant communities function.
Conservation and Restoration
Jeff Nania
Wisconsin Waterfowl Association
Portage, Wisconsin
Jeff Nania lives in rural Columbia County, Wisconsin, with his three kids, Jim, Chris and Becky, all who have served penance as part of his wetland restoration field team.
Mr. Nania has been the Project Director for the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association (WWA) since 1993. At the time of his hire, he was charged with improving the quality of wetland restoration projects in Wisconsin. He conducted site reviews of many projects across the state of Wisconsin and the U.S. studying their successes and—perhaps more importantly—their failures. From his observations, Mr. Nania became convinced that putting water on the landscape was not enough and that each restoration site had many different elements that needed to be addressed from an ecosystem-based approach. This included an extensive investigation of site history, and an examination of pre-restoration site conditions, including soils, remnant seed bank, the presence or absence of hydrology, and site topography. Using this information, Mr. Nania and his restoration crews developed restoration plans that not only included shallow emergent “duck marshes”, but sedge meadows, upland grasslands, and woodlands.
Mr. Nania leads WWA’s efforts—in partnership with fourteen other conservation groups, over a dozen government agencies, and many private landowners across Wisconsin—to build wetland restoration projects, starting with the initial site review and seeing them through the finished construction and post-construction monitoring.
In 1996, Mr. Nania became concerned that children were losing touch with natural resources, and launched Outdoor Adventure Days, an interactive, (muddy and wet) outdoor classroom. To date the program has hosted more than 7000 kids from around Wisconsin. In 2002, Mr. Nania took his interest in wetland education a step further and helped start the River Crossing Environmental Charter School, a full-time school for seventh and eighth graders. Mr. Nania leads the students each week as they plan and implement restoration projects.
In all his endeavors, Mr. Nania is an effective wetland advocate and lobbyist, a pioneer in historical wetland restoration, and a leader in wetland outreach.
Landowner Stewardship
Mark and Terry Brockway
Greater Blue Heron
Wildlife Refuge
Burlington, Iowa
In January 2000, Terry and Mark Brockway purchased 1,600 acres of flood plain located at the confluence of the Skunk and Mississippi Rivers, in one of the largest and most important pools in the entire Mississippi river system. The property, which consists of back water riparian sloughs, lakes, ponds, and bottom land timber, had been silted in and logged in preparation for a quarry operation. The brothers’ goal was to restore the property to the way it was 60 years ago.
The restoration plan required a well balanced effort by the Davis County Conservation Board, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and private natural resource management professionals. The Brockways enrolled and certified 1,295 acres in the Forest Reserve program. Implementing their restoration plan required many extra hours away from their well established contracting and construction firm, Brockway Mechanical and Roofing.
Management of an area that typically floods annually requires special techniques and patience. The brothers mapped the forest resources for management units for a prescribed burn management plan. In addition, they constructed a 100-acre moist soil unit with 4 structures, planted 11,000 plugs of Prairie Cord Grass and other wetland forbs, deleveled 200 acres with shallow water excavation, seeded 80 acres of wetland prairie, planted 4,000 mast-producing RPM trees, and constructed and installed 250 wood duck boxes. Some of these projects were cost shared, but most of them were funded by the Brockways.
The Greater Blue Heron Wildlife Refuge is used as a model restoration site. The Brockways pride themselves in showcasing their project to others who are interested in restoring their properties. As a result, the surrounding area is rapidly being enhanced due to their example. Terry particularly enjoys enlightening school groups and children to the wonders of nature. Eventually the brothers hope to turn the property over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to operate in perpetuity as part of the Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge.
State, Tribal, and Local Program Development
Lynda Saul
Montana Department of Environmental Quality
Helena, Montana
Lynda A. Saul’s passion for wetlands and wild places began as a child exploring ponds and local creeks in southern Ohio. She earned her B.S. in Geology from Tulane University in 1983, and her M.S. in Forestry from the University of Montana in 1987. Since then, she has dedicated herself to protecting Montana’s vast biodiversity by developing and overseeing environmental initiatives in state government. She became the state’s first Wetland Coordinator in 1997, and its Wetlands Program Manager in 2005.
To build stakeholder involvement in wetland protection, Ms. Saul established a Wetland Council to share research, exchange information, create partnerships, and promote cooperative management. The Council has over 400 members, and includes state, local, tribal and federal agency personnel, landowners, consultants, scientists and non-profit staff. In January 2007, she launched a process to create a 10-year Comprehensive Wetland Protection Strategy for Montana, directly involving over 75 Wetland Council members and continuing with ongoing statewide outreach.
Montana’s Governor, Brian Schweitzer, has called Ms. Saul “an amazing and constant force for conserving natural values and qualities.” She was instrumental in starting the voluntary, incentive-based Wetlands Legacy Program, which has conserved over 250,000 acres of wetlands, riparian areas, and associated uplands. She also created a wetland stewardship awards program, distributed 5,000 copies of a wetlands guide for landowners, helped implement an in-lieu fee program for wetland impacts, and initiated wetland and riparian courses for Realtors. Thanks to her efforts, Montana agencies and non-profit groups have received over four million dollars in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wetland protection grants and leveraged millions more. In 2006, she successfully lobbied the Montana Attorney General to join the amicus brief supporting Clean Water Act jurisdiction in the Rapanos/Carabell case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ms. Saul assisted in the formation of the Governor’s Riparian Protection Task Force, of which she is a member. She also serves on the Climate Change Advisory Committee, and is Vice-Chair of the Association of State Wetland Managers.
Wetland Community Leader
Alice Wellford
Rappahannock Phragmites
Action Committee
Richmond, Virginia
Alice Wellford is a landowner and naturalist who splits her time between the City of Richmond and Essex County, Virginia. Her influence, however, is spread across the entire lower Rappahannock River Valley.
Ms. Wellford first became aware of Phragmites australis in 1999, when she found it growing in her beloved freshwater tidal marsh in Essex County. After investigating its invasive and devastating characteristics, she immediately went to work to alert others in both the public and private sectors and encouraged them to take action. She organized the Rappahannock Phragmites Action Committee and initiated control in her marshes. Since then, largely through Ms. Wellford’s efforts, over 200 landowners have joined in the control program, and over 700 acres have been treated. Ms. Wellford has donated over 1,700 hours to map Phragmites stands, search property records, and contact landowners, as well as annually donning her hip boots, grabbing her backpack sprayer, and heading into the marsh.
Understanding the importance of education, Ms. Wellford has developed and presented programs for school groups, garden clubs, and others, and has led field trips in local marshes. She was a featured panel member in a Phragmites forum sponsored by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Not a one-dimensional wetlands advocate, Ms. Wellford and her husband Hill demonstrated a true commitment to land conservation by donating a permanent conservation easement on their family farm, Kendale. Included in the easement were over 600 acres of freshwater tidal marsh, forested swamp, and upland buffers.