The Student Conservation Association-Mount Rainier Partnership was one of 21 recipients nationwide of the Department of the Interior’s Cooperative Conservation Award at a ceremony earlier today in Washington, D.C.

The 21 awards recognized the work of more than 700 groups and individuals who achieved excellence in conservation through collaboration and partnerships.

Jay Satz, the association’s regional vice president in Seattle, accepted the award for the partnership. The award recognizes the partnership’s outstanding contributions to restoration of Mount Rainier National Park after floods devastated the park in November 2006.

The Mount Rainier Recovery Initiative was coordinated by the Student Conservation Association, along with the National Park Service and a coalition of nonprofit organizations. They recruited volunteers, raised public awareness, and enlisted the help of the local business community. During the summer of 2007, more than 700 people worked on more than 100 recovery projects. Volunteer contributions reduced costs and helped preserve wilderness values by completing work with traditional hand tools instead of power equipment.

“The Student Conservation Association’s Initiative is largely responsible for the near doubling of Mount Rainier’s volunteer program from 2006 to 2007,” the award noted. “More than half of the trail work at Mount Rainier in 2007 was completed by volunteers.”

I talked with park superintendent Dave Uberuaga this afternoon and he said the award ceremony was a nice way to recognize the efforts of the volunteers and the people who guided the partnership.

“It was great to see all that work be recognized back here,” he said.

Hey there folks, have you dumped your Nalgene water bottle yet?

The company that makes the popular bottles and stores ares pulling them from shelves over concerns that bisphenol A used in the bottles poses a health risk.

If you've switched give me a call, I would like to talk to you. Call me at 253-597-8640 or e-mail me at jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com.

The Mount St. Helens Institute received a $163,000 grant today for a new seismic exhibit at the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

The exhibit will be called “Taking the Pulse of an Active Volcano at Mount St. Helens” and will show visitors how scientists are learning from recent eruptions. It’s expected to open in May 2010.

The project is a collaboration between the Forest Service, the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network and the Earthscope and Plate Boundary Observatory.

“Multiple elements including a volcano mural, videos about volcanic gas measurements and earth deformation, and a special ‘Make-a-Quake Exhibit’ will make this the most interactive and engaging exhibit at Johnston Ridge Observatory” said John Bishop, chairman of the Mount St. Helens Institute. “This proposal was written specifically to include partners such as the Northwest Film Center and the Vancouver School for Arts and Academics who will assist with the videos and other components.”

The grant comes from the M.J. Murdock Trust – a trust created by the will of former Oregon businessman Melvin Murdock - however, the Mount St. Helens Institute will need to raise a minimum of $60,000 in matching funds to finalize the project.

Karen Gustin will be the new superintendent of Olympic National Park, the National Park Service announced this morning.

Gustin, who currently has the same job at Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve, is expected to start her new job in July. Gustin replaces Bill Laitner, who retired earlier this year.

“Karen Gustin has shown the ability to collaborate with park users and community groups on controversial issues like off-road vehicle use,” said park service regional director Jonathan Jarvis. “I am impressed with her ability to work with partners to accomplish park goals.”

As superintendent of Big Cypress National Preserve Gustin managed maintenance, interpretation, administration, resource management, and ranger operations. She worked with community groups on issues ranging from off-road vehicle use to panther management. She oversaw the largest prescribed fire program in the national park system. She also led construction planning for a new welcome center and coordinated a lands management program.

Gustin, a graduate of Colorado State University, has served in leadership roles in national park units from Guam to Alaska. She was superintendent of Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore from 2001-2004 and spent three years as superintendent at War in the Pacific National Historical Park on Guam and American Memorial Park on Saipan.