Awards ceremony to be held in January 2003
Each year, CBF's Board of Trustees presents its Conservationist of the Year and Environmental Educator of the Year awards to recognize, encourage, and promote environmental stewardship in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Conservationist of the Year award recognizes superlative service and commitment to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay's natural resources. Any individual, organization, institution, or business is eligible for nomination. The Environmental Educator of the Year award recognizes an individual in the field of education who has contributed significantly to the understanding of the Bay ecosystem through an academic program.
Conservationist of the Year
Without question, Robert N. Whitescarver is deserving of CBF's 2002 Conservationist of the Year award. In his current professional capacity, Bobby Whitescarver is the first line supervisor for four USDA Service Centers in the Shenandoah region of Virginia. Working daily with farmers and agricultural landowners, Whitescarver has successfully championed the benefits and importance of agricultural best management practices, particularly riparian buffers, for improving water quality. His effectiveness is legendary. He has secured more than 120 Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) contracts that cover more than 1,185 acres and created more than 100 miles of forested buffers. Working with landowners and famers, he has helped restore more than 70 acres of wetlands through CREP. He has been working and volunteering as a conservationist, as an activist, a public speaker, and a policy maker since graduating from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1979 and earning his Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from James Madison University in 1981.
In supporting Mr. Whitescarver's nomination, Joseph H. Maroon, the Director of Virginia's Department of Conservation and Recreation, wrote, "Bobby Whitescarver exemplifies the purpose of [CBF's] awards program--to recognize superlative service and commitment to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay."
Environmental Educators of the Year
CBF is pleased to honor two extraordinary educators this year with the 2002 Environmental Educator of the Year award.
Dr. Dennis L. Kirkwood is a native and life-long resident of Harford County, Maryland, where he lives on and works a 140-acre farm that has been in his family for seven generations. Dr. Kirkwood was the first person in his area to enter his farm in Harford County's Agricultural Preservation District--one of the largest in Maryland--to permanently preserve the land from future development.
But it was not for his commendable farming practices that Dr. Kirkwood has been named environmental educator of the year. A graduate of Western Maryland College (B.S.--Physical Education and Biology), Northern Illinois University (M.S. Ed--Outdoor Education), and the University of Maryland (Ed. D.--Education), Kirkwood has been the Supervisor of Science for Harford County Public Schools since 1998 and has been in education since 1974. Throughout his career, Kirkwood has influenced thousands of students directly and hundreds of science teachers. As a result, about one-half of the approximately 30,000 Harford County schoolchildren (K-12) get into the field each year for "hands-on" environmental educational experiences, often in collaboration with CBF's field programs. In seven out of the past twelve years, Harford County students have won Maryland's "Envirothon," and three times they have been one of the top five teams nationally.
Also the recipient of numerous awards and commendations, Dr. Kirkwood is an avid ornithologist and involved in several local conservation organizations. Dr. Kirkwood and his wife, Jean, are the proud parents of two daughters, Heather and Kristin.
Ann M. Regn, the Environmental Education Director for Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality, is a teacher, a leader, and an administrator who, for more than 20 years, has dedicated herself to environmental education. Active on the national level as well, Ms. Regn is the other most deserving recipient of CBF's 2002 Environmental Educator of the Year award.
As a teacher, Ms. Regn has spent more than a decade training other professionals, college and university students, and civic association members to be environmental educators. As a result of this highly leveraged work, there is now a skilled cadre of professionals working to infuse environmental awareness and stewardship into Virginia's youth. As a leader, Ms. Regn has influenced former Governor James Gilmore, several of his cabinet officers, the leadership of the Commonwealth's Department of Environmental Quality, and her colleagues on Virginia's Resource Use Education Council and the Governor's Environmental Education Committee to revitalize environmental education and make it and literacy priorities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As an administrator, Ms. Regn directs a full staff at VA's DEQ, serves on the board, is past chair of the Resource Use Education Council, and coordinates an annual environmental education literacy conference in Virginia.
Posted: 12-11-2002
