| NAA Proudly Announces 2022 Award Recipients |
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The Natural Areas Association (NAA) proudly announces the organization’s award recipients who demonstrate the highest standards of leadership and achievement in the natural area profession. Through its Awards Committee, the Association has selected recipients for the George B. Fell Lifetime Achievement Award, Carl N. Becker Stewardship Award, and the Rising Leader Award. Recipients will be honored at NAA Awards Dinner, which will be held on Thurs., Sept. 8, 2022, in Duluth, MN.
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George B. Fell Lifetime Achievement Award |
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The George B. Fell Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual who exhibits the highest qualities of the profession and has significantly advanced natural area identification, protection, stewardship or research, and the mission of the NAA. This award is the Association's highest and is reserved for exceptional achievements in any of the areas in which the Natural Areas Association is concerned.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NAA was not able to recognize its 2020 recipient. As such, the NAA will award both the 2020 and 2022 George B. Fell Lifetime Achievement Awards during this year’s award ceremony. |
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The 2020 recipient is Thomas Foti, Ecological Emeritus, and retired Senior Ecologist at the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. Foti has worked to understand, interpret, protect, and restore Arkansas' natural heritage for more than five decades. Foti was instrumental in bringing management to natural areas in Arkansas, convincing skeptical colleagues and administrators that prairies need fire, overstocked woodlands need thinning, and invasive species need removal. Additionally, Foti has written multiple publications, and helped save the iconic Cache River Basin from channelization.
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The 2022 recipient is Thomas Meyer, a Conservation Biologist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Celebrating his 40th employment anniversary in 2023, Meyer has the longest tenure among employees. Meyer has been praised by colleagues as the unsung heart of the Wisconsin State Natural Areas program throughout his long career, quietly leading many of the critical components of the program. In addition, Meyer was instrumental in developing the Wisconsin State Natural Areas program into the country's largest one, growing 184 sites and 28,000 acres in 1983 into 692 sites and 400,000 acres today.
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Carl N. Becker Stewardship Award |
The NAA awards the Carl N. Becker Stewardship Award in recognition of excellence and achievement in managing the natural resources of reserves, parks, wilderness, and other protected areas. |
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The 2022 award recipient is Ellen Jacquart, president of the Indiana Native Plant Society. Jacquart recently retired after an impressive 40-year Natural Areas preservation and management career. Early in her career, Jacquart spearheaded the creation of the Central Indiana Land Trust in 1990, which has protected more than 6,500 acres of Natural Areas. Additionally, at a time when there wasn’t a source for certain species of native plants for restoration projects at the Hoosier National Forest, Jacquart led efforts to create a native plant nursery, and seeds from that project continue to support Indiana's Natural Areas today.
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Through its newest award, the NAA recognizes younger professionals who, early in their careers, demonstrate excellence in research, protection, and stewardship of natural areas. The NAA awards the Rising Leader Award (RLA) to an individual who, in a relatively short amount of time, develops or implements a new idea that addresses an old issue in natural areas research, protection, or stewardship.
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The 2022 award recipient is Samuel King, an ecologist at Middle Tennessee Stewardship. King’s effort to independently conduct prescribed fires on natural land has allowed staff to increase its annual acres from 500 to 2,000. King’s efforts have shown improved ecological outcomes as personnel can now rapidly respond to fire conditions. Several large-scale restorations are underway as a direct result of Middle Tennessee Stewardships’ fire capacity. King also works to ensure that the Department of Natural Resources participates in effective outreach methods through field workdays, volunteer recruitment, and media appearances.
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