Issue 8

Restoration Project Wins Award

The 6-year cooperative effort to restore depressional wetlands on the Savannah River Site, which involved researchers, managers, and the public, received the 2006 USDA Forest Service Southern Regional Forester’s Natural Resources Stewardship Award.

“The project established the Forest Service-Savannah River Site in a regional leadership role for natural resources stewardship and watershed health,” says John Blake, research coordinator of the Savannah River Site. “By bringing together stakeholders at the beginning in both the concept and the design, particularly experimentation with alternatives, the approach received broad acceptance and allowed the project team to evaluate controversial alternatives, such as harvesting and fire.”

Partners included: U.S. Department of Energy, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Clemson University, University of South Carolina-Aiken, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Washington Savannah River Company.