2008 Salute to the Parks Awards Gala
Protecting America's Heritage
2008 Awardees
Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) - William Penn Mott Jr. Park Leadership Award
Dr. Edward O. Wilson - The Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks
Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) - William Penn Mott Jr. Park Leadership Award
The William Penn Mott Jr. Park Leadership Award is presented annually to a public official who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the protection of America's natural and cultural heritage. The award was named for William Penn Mott, Jr., a director of the National Park Service and an NPCA Trustee, whose lifelong commitment to the parks embodies the spirit of this award. This year Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) received the Mott Award.
First elected in 1976, Congressman Nick Joe Rahall represents the Third Congressional District of West Virginia and is currently serving his 16th term. Rahall serves as the Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, and consistently has been a champion for the national parks.
Rep. Rahall authored the 1978 bill that established the New River Gorge National River as a unit of the National Park System in southern West Virginia. Ten years later he championed legislation to designate the Gauley River National Recreation Area and the Bluestone National Scenic River, in the process creating the largest network of federally protected rivers in the eastern United States—a total of more than 87,000 acres. He has introduced and cosponsored legislation that would provide for the studies and/or additions of park units within the national park system such as the study of site and resources at Matewan, West Virginia associated with the battle of Matewan for inclusion as a historic site and the study of the Upper New River for its suitability as a wild and scenic river.
Rep. Rahall is a lead advocate on behalf of proper funding levels for parklands, stating “… Our National Parks are national treasures —and their funding is a national responsibility.” Furthermore, he is a strong proponent of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and has sought support to revitalize that program. In addition, Representative Rahall jointly sponsored authorizing legislation for the Centennial Challenge, an initiative to increase funding for our national parks in order to prepare them for their next 100 years by their centennial in 2016. In keeping with his national perspective about the importance of our national parks, he has also been a stalwart advocate for protecting bison in Yellowstone and for making Yellowstone snowmobile-free.
Dr. Edward O. Wilson - The Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks
The Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks is given annually to an individual or organization that has effectively communicated the values of the National Park System to the American public. The award recognizes both Dr. Winks' long association with NPCA and his expertise on the National Park System. The award acknowledges the work of an individual or organization contributing to public education about national parks through works in the arts, media, or academia. The 2008 Winks Award recipient was Dr. Edward O. Wilson.
Edward O. Wilson--sometimes referred to as the natural heir to Charles Darwin--has been a Harvard professor for four decades and has written 20 books, won two Pulitzer Prizes, and discovered hundreds of new species. He is considered one of the greatest living scientists and has been called “the father of biodiversity.”
M ore than anyone, E.O. Wilson has put the concept of biological diversity into the minds of the educated public by pointing out that all life is connected in one giant web, and humans are part of it. He warns us against what he calls exemptionalism, the belief that human beings alone of all creatures are exempt from the laws of nature, that it doesn’t matter what we do to the earth or other species, because we’re people, and the only thing that affects us is politics and economics.
Wilson has been insistent on the need to educate the public about these issues, and his popular books have been keystones in doing so. One of the best ways to educate the public is to provide opportunities to explore the natural world in our national parks. Although Wilson is probably best known for his published work on ants, he has furthered
the ideal of the national parks through his written works by drawing attention to the value that large natural landscapes have not only for wildlife but also for people.
A s one of seven members of the National Park System Advisory Board in 2004, Wilson pointed out that the U.S. national parks “are fast becoming the last remaining havens for once-widespread species and ecosystems. Every conceivable effort must be made to marshal the necessary resources to preserve the integrity of the parks and the life residing within them. D r. Wilson is highly credible and his voice carries weight throughout the halls of science and increasingly through those of Congress. Recently, Dr. Wilson, along with 99 other prominent Americans, signed NPCA’s letter to Congress seeking additional funds for the National Park System.
Now 78 and supposedly retired, Dr. Wilson still considers conservation of the world’s biodiversity a vital mission. He currently sits on the boards of The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and the American Museum of Natural History. He continues to lecture, suggesting to hundreds and thousands of people that it is crucial for all of us to save all living species.
