BLM News: Recognizing Volunteers

The Bureau of Land Management

NEWS

Volunteers Are "Making A Difference"

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) honored the recipients of the 1998 "Making A Difference" National Volunteer Awards at a luncheon ceremony at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 29, 1998, at the Potomac Landing Restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia. BLM Director Pat Shea honored nine volunteers for a wide range of achievements that include campground management, fish habitat restoration, environmental education programs, and maintenance of sensitive riparian/recreation areas.

"Private citizens are at the heart of public lands stewardship," Shea said. "These individuals are the heroes of our nation's natural and cultural resources because they take seriously their citizen responsibility to care for the public lands. They are people truly Making A Difference!"

In the last year, more than 17,000 volunteers donated over 1.1 million hours of their time to the BLM, at an estimated value of over $12 million. Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds share their time and talents to improve the health of the public lands by restoring riparian areas across the West, patrolling remote areas to protect our Nation's cultural heritage, building trails, staffing volunteer centers, and conducting educational programs.

The 1998 recipients of the "Making a Difference" national awards are: Lissa Davis (Carson City, Nevada), Russell Davis (Lake Havasu City, Arizona), Scott Greenwood (Moab, Utah), Peggy Hodges-Pitcher (Laceys Spring, Alabama), Louise Murch (Vernal, Utah), Gordon Nelson (Bishop, California), Penny and Tommy Rogers (Kingston, Tennessee), and Glenn Stockdale (Helena, Montana).

In 1985, Tommy and Penny Rogers happened to stop by the then seldom-visited Warren Bridge Campground in the Pinedale Resource Area, Wyoming. They have now been volunteer campground hosts at Warren Bridge for 13 seasons (over 23,410 hours), turning the area into a popular facility. In addition to their campground chores, they have given their services to the other recreation sites in the Resource Area, establishing and maintaining a garbage collection program, maintaining facilities, replacing and maintaining signs, and clearing and maintaining trails in the Scab Creek Wilderness Study Area.

Lissa Davis has organized numerous community projects on BLM land near Washoe Valley, Nevada to remove trash and help maintain a sensitive riparian/recreation area located in the Historic Comstock Mining District below Virginia City. She is an active participant in other public work projects in the District, including last year's National Public Lands Day trail building project. She has contributed hundreds of hours to improving public lands in the Carson City District.

Russell Davis started working on the Lake Havasu Fisheries Improvement Program in 1991 through his volunteer activities with the Boy Scouts. He now volunteers 40 hours a week on this project -- the largest warmwater fisheries project in the world. Over the last five years, Russell has constructed and installed an estimated 5,200 crappie condos, 3,300 fish-n-trees, 530 bass bungalows, 270 catfish houses, 390 brush bundles, 400 super condos, and the list goes on. His work on the fisheries project is valued at over $110,000.

For about four years, Scott Greenwood has been a volunteer campground host at three campgrounds managed by the BLM Moab Field Office along the Colorado Riverway: Big Bend, Hal Canyon, and Oak Grove. Twelve months a year, Scott -- and his dog, Sadie -- are on duty, greeting campers on walks through the campgrounds, sharing BLM's minimal impact message, and performing light maintenance work. As a result of his on-site presence and friendly manner, the campgrounds are enjoying a reduction in vandalism and a nearly 100 percent compliance rate in fee collections.

Peggy Hodges-Pitcher has volunteered with the BLM Jackson Field Office (Mississippi) for over five years. After adopting her wild mustang in 1991, Peggy became involved with the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption program. Since that time, she has spent countless hours talking with adopters, inspecting trailers, participating in educational seminars, and providing every kind of assistance imaginable to the horse adoption program. To demonstrate her commitment to the program, Peggy almost single-handedly designed the poster, "Mustangs . . . More than just a living legend," which is used as an educational and promotional tool for the program. The poster is now in its 8th printing.

Eight years ago in Bishop, California, Gordon Nelson "adopted" as his volunteer project BLM's 36,000-acre Fish Slough Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and the large Volcanic Tableland surrounding the ACEC. Weekly, if not daily, Gordon visits the Tableland and its marshlands to monitor the site, remove trash, rake out unauthorized off-road vehicle tracks, etc. He routinely organizes volunteer work groups to help maintain the area and photograph and monitor sensitive archaeological sites within the ACEC.

According to the BLM's Headwaters Resource Area in Montana, the Canyon Ferry Bald Eagle Program is a success today because of volunteer Glenn Stockdale. He has been a key part of this partnership program involving federal, state, utility and educational organizations, and volunteers. Seven years ago, Glenn began his work to become a self-taught expert on eagle ecology when he developed an educational presentation for school children. He has contributed over 1,000 hours to this educational outreach effort, lecturing to about 10,500 school children on the value of working together to conserve our lands and resources for the benefit of all wildlife.

Four years ago, Louise Murch organized the Vernal (Utah) Junior High Escape Club, a group of about 25 students who participate in activities associated with the BLM Vernal Field Office. As Faculty Advisor, Louise and her students have packed rocks up clay hills to outline the Fantasy Canyon Trail, participated in the 1997 Musket Shot Springs Public Lands Day project, and adopted the interagency Dry Fork Trail project as a multi-year Club project. Right now, she is busy planning projects for her students in 1998. Through Louise's dedication, Vernal Junior High students are developing an appreciation and respect for our nation's natural and cultural resources.

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