2006 DOI Environmental Achievement Awards
Recipients and Honorable Mentions

Official memorandum announcing 2006 recipients from R. Thomas Weimer, Assistant Secretary – Policy, Management and Budget, signed on October 2, 2006.

Award Recipients

Individuals

Dr. John Portnoy, Ecologist - Herring River Salt Marsh Restoration, Cape Cod National Seashore, NPS. For over twenty years, John Portnoy diligently conducted scientific studies, involved stakeholders, and advocated for the Herring River restoration project. On September 14, 2005, the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Town of Wellfleet, MA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to proceed with the restoration.

Teams

Students Against Global Abuse at Herndon High School (SAGA) Partnership with MMS -Taking the Initiative, Reston, Virginia. SAGA students educate employees about recycling and collect recyclable materials at large facilities, including the MMS facility in Reston. Recycling proceeds go into a scholarship fund for Herndon High School students.

The California BLM Abandoned Mine Lands Team - Boston Placer Mine Sluice Tunnel Remediation Project, Red Dog, California. The Boston Placer hydraulic gold mine Sluice Tunnel Remediation Project was the first successful mercury removal, recovery, and recycling pilot project of its kind. The Abandoned Mine Lands Team used innovative project remediation concepts and successfully executed new remediation solutions.

JW Dalton Legacy Well Cleanup Project Team, National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska, BLM. Accelerated shoreline erosion of the Beaufort Sea exposed a well casing. Release of well contaminats into the sea could have affected marine life and subsistence resources. After securing emergency funding, BLM assembled a team of specialists to develop and implement an ambitious plan to remove environmental hazards from the site. Field work was complicated by the site's remote location and extreme daily temperatures averaging 30 degrees below zero.

Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge "Green" Headquarters and Visitor Contact Station Team, Swanton, Vermont, FWS. The Missisquoi NWR Headquarters and Visitor Contact Station construction project upholds the principles of sustainable design including minimizing energy use, making efficient use of resources, and reflecting sensitivity to the site. The collaborative design for the project included community members, community partners, Efficiency Vermont, the State of Vermont, the Town of Swanton, the FWS, and a design team led by Centerbrook Associates of Centerbrook, Connecticut.

Northeast Regional Office Green Team and Rick O. Bennett, Deputy Regional Director, Hadley, Massachusetts, FWS. A Green Team formed in the Northeast Regional Office of the FWS made significant environmental improvements to its 72,000-square-foot, GSA-leased facility through its exemplary Environmental Management System. Members of the 20-person team, volunteers from all major programs in the 250-employee office, serve on an advisory group and/or the Landscaping, Energy, Recycling, or Transportation work groups.

Concessioners and Partners

Doyon/ARAMARK Joint Venture, Planet EVERgreen: Protecting and Preserving "The Last Frontier," Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, NPS. Doyon/ARAMARK implemented PlanetEVERgreen, its Environmental Management System, certified to the ISO 14001:2004 standard. Doyon/ARAMARK excels in environmental management by setting documented measurable objectives and targets based on the 8 Pillars of Planet EVERgreen. Doyon/ARAMARK serves over 300,000 Park visitors each year and commits to teaching environmental stewardship to visitors and employees.

Yellowstone National Park and Concessioner Employees, Montana and Wyoming Departments of Environmental Quality, and Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, Environmental Stewardship at Yellowstone National Park and the greater Yellowstone area, Wyoming. In 1997, when Yellowstone National Park celebrated its 125th anniversary as the world's first national park, park staff began the "Greening of Yellowstone" initiative. Since that time, the park and its partners have made remarkable advances in promoting sustainable practices and advancing sound environmental stewardship initiatives. Accomplishments include achieving a 65 percent diversion rate of solid waste, and creating a program and technology to collect and recycle camp stove propane cylinders in the greater Yellowstone area.

Honorable Mentions

Environcon Matheson Ore Transfer Station Cleanup - Pollution Prevention, Michelle Prowse, Richard Sugarek, John Spitzley, California, BOR

Office Electronic Equipment Recycling Team, Alaska, FWS

Yosemite Valley Hybrid Shuttle Bus Project, California, NPS

Collaborative 2005 Colorado River Shoreline Cleanup, BOR, City of Yuma Clean and Beautiful, and Boy Scouts of America, Arizona, BOR

Environmental Stewardship at Xanterra Zion Lodge Reduces Impact on a Global Scale Station, Utah, NPS

Sustainable Principles Rehabilitate the Gateway NRA Visitor Contact Station, Gateway NRA, Denver Service Center, and National Renewable Energy Lab, New York, NPS

Bozeman Fish Technology Center Environmental Management and Energy Conservation Team, Montana, FWS

Rhode Island National Wildlife Complex Headquarters and Kettle Pond Visitor Center, Pam Rooney, Supervisory Architect, Rhode Island, FWS

Great American Cleanup, Boise & Twin Falls Districts, Idaho, BLM

Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery Environmental Management System, Andrew Currie, Project Leader, Tennessee, FWS

Prineville Bureau of Land Management District - Biomass Fuel Reduction Fire Prevention Program, Oregon, BLM