Virginia Master Naturalist Program Receives Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence

Governor Bob McDonnell announced the winners of the 2011 Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards, which were presented at the Environment Virginia Symposium in Lexington on April 6.

The Virginia Master Naturalist program is one of the winners of this prestigious award, earning a gold award in the category of governmental environmental programs.

Of course, it is the wonderful work of our volunteers and the support from our sponsoring agencies and partners that earned the award for the program. It was fitting that Susan Powell (Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer, Historic Rivers Chapter), our first VMN volunteer to complete 2500 hours of service, accepted the award on behalf of the program. Thanks, Susan, and thanks to all of our volunteers, sponsoring agencies, and partners!

The awards recognize the significant contributions of environmental and conservation leaders in three categories: environmental projects, environmental programs and land conservation. They are given to businesses and industrial facilities, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies and individuals.

Speaking about the awards, Governor McDonnell remarked, “We are very proud of the Virginians in these private, non-profit and government entities who have demonstrated the innovation and dedication to improve our environment and make the lives of their fellow Virginians better.”

Award winners were chosen based on criteria including environmental benefit, stakeholder involvement, public outreach, transferability and innovativeness.

This year’s awards were sponsored by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Dominion and Smithfield Foods Inc.

Additional information on the Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards is available on the DEQ website at www.deq.virginia.gov/info/geea/2011.

Photo caption:

From left: Doug Domenech (Secretary of Natural Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia), Carol Heiser (Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Virginia Master Naturalist program Steering Committee), David Whitehurst (Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Virginia Master Naturalist program Executive Committee), Susan Powell (Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer, Historic Rivers Chapter), David Paylor (Director, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality), David Johnson (Director, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation)