National Wetlands Awards Senator Cardin of Maryland keynotes annual ceremony honoring stewards of valuable natural resources

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Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, Sept./Oct. 2010

Making the Law Work for

People, Places, and the Planet

2010 National Wetlands Award winners and keynote speaker Senator Benjamin Cardin (right).

e recipients of the

2010 National Wetlands

Awards were recognized at

the 21st anniversary of the

award program in the U.S.

Capitol Visitors Center on

May 19. e annual cer-

emony celebrates individu-

als who have demonstrated

extraordinary dedication,

innovation or excellence

in wetlands conservation

across six categories.

Senator Benjamin L.

Cardin (D-Maryland),

who introduced legislation

last year that would reduce

pollution to improve the

health of the Chesapeake

Bay, gave the keynote

speech. “Wetlands are the

living edge of the Chesa-

peake Bay,” he said, “the

living edge of our shorelines

that provides critical wild-

life habitat and f‌ilters out a

lot of pollutants.” He also

favors a permanent morato-

rium on new drilling along

the mid-Atlantic coast. “My

f‌irst pitch is: no oil drilling

along the Chesapeake Bay,”

he stated emphatically. “Oil

and wetlands do not mix.”

Peter Silva, Assistant

EPA Administrator for

Water, presented the award

for State, Tribal, and Local

Program Development to

Michael Cain, who de-

voted most of his career to

protecting the wetlands of

Wisconsin. Cain has been

an author on almost every

wetlands law in the state

Marsh, a 32,000-acre

Wetland of International

Importance. Volkert also

spearheaded the ef‌fort to

create the Horicon Marsh

International Education

Center.

Volkert said that Hori-

con today is recognized as

not just a state wildlife area

and national wildlife refuge,

“but as an outstanding ex-

ample of a distinct glacial

lake. It certainly shows that

these marshes can mend

themselves if we can work

with them and give them a

second chance.”

Robin ompson, Asso-

ciate Deputy Chief for State

and Private Forestry at the

USDA Forest Service, pre-

sented the Science Research

Award to Rebecca Sharitz,

who is a senior research

ecologist at the Savannah

River Ecology Laboratory

and professor of plant biol-

National Wetlands Awards Senator Cardin of Maryland keynotes

annual ceremony honoring stewards of valuable natural resources

and helped Wisconsin to

become the f‌irst state to

adopt wetland quality stan-

dards. “Wetlands loss has

shrunk from 1,300 acres

per a year to a current aver-

age of about 250 acres loss

per year,” said Silva.

Cain retired from the

Wisconsin Department of

Natural Resources in 2009

and today is teaching at the

University of Wisconsin

School of Law. Recalling

how environmental disas-

ters have inf‌luenced his

career, he said, “When I

was an undergrad 40 years

ago, I was upset and sad-

dened that the Cuyahoga

River was burning, which

was one of the reasons why

I went to law school,” Cain

explained. “ree weeks

ago, I was upset to read

that the Gulf of Mexico

was burning. I think that

some people can look at

that and be cynical and say

we haven’t had progress. I

know from the work that

most of the people in this

room have done — and

the work that we’ve done in

Wisconsin — that we have

made progress.”

Dan Ashe, Deputy

Director of the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service, pre-

sented the Education and

Outreach award to William

Volkert, a wildlife educator

with the Wisconsin Depart-

ment of Natural Resources.

“Mr. Volkert has made a

dif‌ference for wetlands con-

servation, promoting wet-

lands values and wetlands

protection while forging

partnerships that build trust

in the capacity of volun-

teers,” said Ashe.

One of Volkert’s most

important contributions

has been his knowledge

and expertise for Horicon