Call for Nominations for the 2008 American Recreation Coalition Beacon Awards and the Bureau of Land Management 2008 Legends Honoree; DD: 05/01/2008
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
http://www.blm.gov
April 14, 2008
In Reply Refer To:
8300 (250) P
EMS TRANSMISSION 04/21/2008
Information Bulletin No. 2008-070
To: All Washington Office and Field Officials
From: Division Chief, Division of Recreation and Visitor Services
Subject: Call for Nominations for the 2008 American Recreation Coalition Beacon
Awards and the Bureau of Land Management 2008 Legends Honoree
DD: 05/01/2008
Program Area: Recreation, Travel, Tourism and Visitor Services.
Purpose: This Information Bulletin invites each State Director, Center Director, and Washington Office (WO) Assistant Director to make nominations for two separate American Recreation Coalition (ARC) awards that will be presented during Great Outdoors Week in June 2008. These awards are the Beacon Award, which recognizes innovative use of technology in visitor services and recreation management, and the Legends Award, which recognizes an outstanding Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee for increasing recreation opportunities and participation. The ARC will present the Beacon and Legends Awards at special events in Washington, D.C., during Great Outdoors Week, June 9-15, 2008. The honorees will also be invited to attend many other events held during Great Outdoors Week.
Policy/Action: Each BLM State Office, Center and WO Assistant Directorate is invited to make one nomination each for the ARC Beacon Award and the BLM Legends Award and to submit their nominations to the Division of Recreation and Visitor Services (WO-250).
Timeframe: Nominations for each award should be submitted by May 1, 2008. The ARC will select the Beacon Award honorees by May 15, 2008. The BLM will select the BLM Legends Award Honoree by May 15, 2008.
Budget Impact: BLM Legends Award honorees residing outside the Washington, D.C. metro area are provided one week of travel expenses and per diem. The BLM Legends Award honoree is also invited to be accompanied by his/her guest. The Division of Recreation and Visitor Services will cover all the travel expenses of the BLM’s Legends honoree and guest. No similar funding is provided for Beacon Award recipient travel expenses.
Background: On April 1, 2008, the American Recreation Coalition President, Derrick Crandall, formally invited BLM participation in the annual awards programs conducted as part of Great Outdoors Week. The BLM began participating in the Legends Awards program in 1991 and in the Beacon Awards program in 2006. The list of past BLM recipients for both awards is included in Attachments 1 and 2.
The BLM’s Division of Recreation and Visitor Services will coordinate the awards nomination process. Attachments 3 and 4 provide the details and nomination criteria for the Beacon and Legends Awards. Each BLM State Director, Center Director, and WO Assistant Director may submit one nomination for each award to the Division of Recreation and Visitor Services (WO-250).
The nomination packet must include:
Either the project title (Beacon Award) or the nominees name (Legends Award).
Contact information to include the address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address.
A narrative addressing the four ARC criteria for the appropriate award.
A concise summary paragraph to be used by the ARC to prepare the award citation.
The Legends Award packet should also include a high quality digital head and shoulders photograph of the nominee suitable for publication and display.
Attachment 5, the package submitted for the 2006 BLM Legends Honoree, serves as an example of a nomination package for the Legends Award.
Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: None.
Coordination: Beacon Awards – The BLM may make a maximum of two nominations. A BLM interdisciplinary team will be established to review all of the BLM’s nominees. The team will recommend up to two Beacon Award nominees to the Chief, Division of Recreation and Visitor Service who will make the final recommendation and then forward the recommendations to the ARC. The final selection of honorees will be done by a special panel assembled by ARC. The Beacon Award winners will be honored at a special ceremony during Great Outdoors Week where the ARC will showcase their award-winning initiatives for an audience of agency, Congressional and recreation-community officials.
Legends Award – One BLM Legends Honoree is named annually to receive this prestigious award. An interdisciplinary team will be established to review all of the BLM’s nominees. The team will recommend a BLM honoree to the Chief, Division of Recreation and Visitor Services, who will make the final recommendation and forward the recommendation to the Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning (AD-200) for concurrence. Upon AD-200 approval, the Chief, Division of Recreation and Visitor Services will notify the honoree and provide the honoree’s name, photograph and award citation information to the ARC. The 2008 BLM Legends Honoree will be recognized during a noon luncheon on Wednesday June 11, 2008 in Washington, D.C.
Contact: Please submit the completed nomination packets for both awards by May 1, 2008, providing the documentation listed in the Background section above. Send the complete nomination packets for each award by e-mail to Hal Hallett, Division of Recreation and Visitor Services (WO-250), at Hal_Hallett@blm.gov and Chivonda Smith at Chivonda_Smith@blm.gov. You may call either Hal at (202) 452-7794 or Patrick Wilkinson at (202) 452-7796 for more information.
Signed by: Authenticated by:
Robert T. Ratcliffe Robert M. Williams
Division Chief Division of IRM Governance,WO-560
Recreation and Visitor Services
5 Attachments
1 - ARC Beacon Award Honorees Nominated by BLM (1 p)
2 – BLM Legends Honoree Listing (1 p)
3 – American Recreation Coalition Beacon Awards Purpose and Selection Criteria (1 p)
4 – American Recreation Coalition Legends Awards Purpose and Selection Criteria (1 p)
5 – Nomination submission for Tom Folks, BLM 2006 Legends Honoree (3 pp)