For Immediate Release: June 1, 2007      
Contact: Jim Sample BLM 303-239-3861
David Boyd BLM 970-947-2832
Vaughn Whatley BLM 303-239-3766

BLM Recreation Planner Receives National River Management Award

The River Management Society (RMS) recently presented its Outstanding Contribution Award to Bunny Sterin, Lead Recreation Planner in the Kremmling Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Field Office.

The RMS is the nation’s only professional society for river managers. Sterin was lauded for her continued commitment and grass-roots leadership for RMS in Alaska, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado over the past 10 years. Sterin received the award at the Biennial Interagency River Managers Workshop in Missoula, Montana, on May 22, 2007.

 “The RMS family shares a passion for resource stewardship, sound river management, and overall zest for life. Bunny Sterin represents all of this. It’s been an honor to share this passion for rivers and the RMS with this inspiring woman,” said Tim MacCartney, representative of Trout Unlimited and the National Park Service.

Sterin also was praised by Jim Hughes, Acting Director of the BLM. Hughes said that in addition to her river and hydrology experience, Sterin “gave freely of her time and expertise. Her service and passion for the Colorado River have been manifested by her interaction with other river administrators and the boating public.”

Sterin’s responsibilities include managing oversight and planning on the Upper Colorado River, the largest BLM-managed river program in Colorado. Her program oversees 60 river outfitters and guides,  and provides annual services for 30,000 commercial river user clients, as well as 13,000 private river users. She also conducts oversight and recreation planning for an extensive uplands program, where 34 outfitter guides provide services for big game hunting and horseback riding services.

“It is an honor to be nationally recognized for something I truly enjoy,” said Sterin. “I would not have received this award without the efforts of many other dedicated members of the River Management Society who work hard to promote and evelop the profession of river management.”  Sterin is a 24-year federal government employee, including 22 years with BLM and assignments with the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Forest Service.

The BLM oversees 8.3 million acres of public lands in Colorado, including 10,000 acres of riparian-wetland habitat that border 4,300 miles of streams. An agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, BLM manages more U.S. land -- 258 million surface acres -- than any other federal agency.

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Editor's Note: A digital file with jpeg photo of Bunny Sterin is also available by e-mail. Contact David Boyd at David_Boyd@blm.gov.