The ceremony was conducted by DOI Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.  Representing State members of the ARRI Core Team was Scott Eggerud of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Charleston, West Virginia.  Linda Keene of the OSM Application Violator System Office in Lexington, Kentucky represented the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement (OSM) and Dr. James Burger of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia represented ARRI’s Academic Team.  The remaining 40 ARRI Core Team and Academic Team members will receive a Cooperative Conservation Award certificate honoring their service and accomplishments at a ceremony during the upcoming Mined Land Reforestation Conference in Abingdon, Virginia on August 7^th and 8^th, 2007.

    The Cooperative Conservation Award recognizes the achievements of collaborative conservation efforts among a diverse range of entities, such as Federal, State, and local governments, private for-profit and nonprofit institutions, other non-governmental entities, and individuals. 

    OSM Acting Director Brent Wahlquist stated, “Congratulations to all ARRI Team members and the more than 226 partners and organizations representing our partners in industry and environmental groups, their employees, volunteers, private citizens, land owners and others whose contributions have directly and indirectly supported the important goals of the Department [of Interior] and of the ARRI.  Thank you, without your reforestation efforts through hard work and dedicated outreach, ARRI would not have received this prestigious award and remarkable acknowledgement!”  

View list of ARRI Cooperative Conservation Award Winners
View DOI News Release Secretary Kempthorne Recognizes Interior Employees
View 2006 OSM Partnerships Report

ARRI is 

Return to Top