On the centennial anniversary of one of America’s greatest treasures, the 2016 Stroud Award for Freshwater Excellence (the SAFE Water Award) will be presented to the National Park Service and its director, Jonathan Jarvis.
Jarvis will receive the award during the annual Water’s Edge gala, to be held on November 3 at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
Jarvis’ 39-year career has taken him from ranger to resource management specialist to park biologist to superintendent of parks such as Craters of the Moon, North Cascades, Wrangell-St. Elias, and Mount Rainer. Before becoming the director of the National Park Service in 2009, Jarvis served as regional director of the bureau’s Pacific West Region. He is now responsible for overseeing an agency with more than 22,000 employees and a $3 billion budget.
Guiding the National Park Service into its second century is Jarvis’ plan, A Call to Action, which outlines strategies that will help the National Park Service continue to preserve America’s special places throughout the 21st century. Crystal Clear — one of the points in the plan — highlights how the National Park Service will strengthen its commitment to the health and protection of America’s freshwater systems.
The diverse areas managed by the National Park Service encompass more than 84 million acres and serve to preserve and protect freshwater resources throughout the United States, while the 280 million annual park visitors generate $30 billion in economic benefit across the nation.
Join Jarvis and the Stroud Center Board of Directors for an informative lecture followed by an elegant dinner to celebrate the conservation of freshwater resources and 100 years of America’s national parks. Tickets and sponsorship packages are available on the Stroud Center events page.
Presented each year since 2011, the Stroud Award for Freshwater Excellence honors individuals, institutions, or organizations whose work contributes broadly to the conservation and protection of freshwater resources and ecosystems, improving the quantity and quality of fresh water, or developing policies and practices which help perpetuate clean fresh water for future generations and wildlife. Prior recipients include Alexandra Cousteau in 2015; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 2014; Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., and Kathryn Sullivan, Ph.D., in 2013; John Briscoe, Ph.D., in 2012; and Olivia Newton-John and husband John Easterling, in 2011. To learn more about the award and past recipients, go to http://www.stroudcenter.org/safe.
