During the 72nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, held in March in Portland, Oregon, Marshall P. Jones, Jr., the Black Bear Conservation Committee and the Hoosier National Forest's Early Successional Forest Management Team received the Wildlife Management Institute's top conservation awards.

Marshall Jones, former deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, received WMI's 2007 George Bird Grinnell Memorial Award for Distinguished Service to Natural Resources Conservation. Jones retired from the Service in January 2007, concluding a 31-year career that included major accomplishments to conserve the world's most imperiled wildlife.

The Grinnell Award is WMI's highest honor for contributions of an individual to conservation in North America. Author, publisher, ethnographer, naturalist and pioneering conservationist, George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938), founder of the National Audubon Society and founding member of the Boone and Crockett Club, was instrumental in developing the national park system, and conservation mentor of Theodore Roosevelt.

"George Bird Grinnell's conservation philosophy endures with Marshall Jones," said Steven A. Williams, WMI president, during the award ceremony. "This award goes to a man whose career exemplifies integrity, leadership, foresight and a remarkable work ethic. He has been responsible for a host of successful natural resource management programs dating back to the 1970s. His unselfish commitment shines brightly within the Service and throughout the conservation community."

Among Jones' accomplishments within the Service were playing a key role in developing the Service's Endangered Species Program in the mid-1970s and streamlining methods for endangered species listing and recovery. In the 1980s, as acting chief of Ecological Services, Jones helped develop U.S. policy for panda conservation and a 1989 U.S. moratorium on the African elephant ivory trade, reversing serious declines in elephant populations. As the first assistant director for International Affairs in 1994, he became a tireless advocate for the importance of establishing fish and wildlife programs as part of developing countries' national fabric. Under his leadership, the International Affairs Program built and managed grant programs benefiting elephants, great apes, rhinos, tigers and neotropical birds. Recognizing that sustainable international conservation was largely an economic issue, Jones helped nations establish financial incentives for conservation. His efforts specifically aided African elephants, mahogany and sturgeon. As deputy director starting in 2000, Marshall promoted the agency's mission throughout the United States and abroad by strengthening partnerships with foreign governments, federal agencies, states, tribes, nongovernmental agencies and the private sector.

"A hallmark of accomplishment is how well one is regarded by his peers," Williams noted. "And Marshall Jones is highly regarded throughout the Service as a steadfast and active supporter of its employees, especially in the area of development and training. He constantly championed the well-being of his coworkers. WMI salutes Marshall for his sterling conservation accomplishments in the very spirit and tradition of George Bird Grinnell."

The Wildlife Management Institute presented its prestigious Touchstone Award to the Black Bear Conservation Committee for its work to restore Louisiana black bear populations.

The Touchstone Award recognizes individuals or groups for accomplishments that significantly advance natural resources conservation in North America.

Founded in 1990, the Black Bear Conservation Committee (BBCC) is a nonprofit organization committed to promoting restoration of the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) through education, research and management of habitat and populations. The BBCC is a broad-based coalition of citizens and more than 60 groups representing private landowners, forest and agricultural industries, utility companies, conservationists, wildlife agencies and university researchers.

"Conservationists nationwide regard the Black Bear Conservation Committee as a model for public and private interests coming together to address conservation issues," said WMI president Steve Williams.

Historically, black bear populations were abundant in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley's original 24 million acres of bottomland hardwood forests?a stretch of land that runs along the Mississippi River through Louisiana. Because of land drainage and forest clearing, these lands shrank to less than 5 million acres by 1980. Habitat loss and fragmentation put the Louisiana black bear in jeopardy; it was listed as federally endangered in 1992. Approximately 700 bears currently exist in this region.

To protect the remnant bear population, the BBCC developed the "Black Bear Restoration Plan," which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service used to create the official Louisiana black bear recovery plan. The BBCC distributed more than 20,000 copies of its "Black Bear Management Handbook" to landowners to help them better understand bears and how to manage bear habitat. It has conducted workshops for more than 800 landowners about incentive programs to aid in wildlife habitat restoration. It also has awarded $240,000 in grants to help 12 private landowners restore 1,200 acres of bottomland hardwood forests.

As part of an educational outreach, the BBCC produced and distributed more than 18,000 copies of the multi-media CD "Bears and Birds of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley" and created a bear-based curriculum guide for elementary and middle school teachers, with lesson plans on math, science and geography. And the BBCC helped to establish annual bear festivals in Rolling Fork, Mississippi and Franklin counties to promote bear awareness and help local economies.

David Telesco, BBCC private lands biologist, accepted the award on behalf of the Committee. He remarked: "The Black Bear Conservation Committee accomplishes its mission through credible, science-driven management, building coalitions, and sharing a genuine commitment to restore Louisiana black bears. Our success comes from seeking input from people who might be affected by a larger bear population. These people ultimately will determine if a healthy bear population is positive or negative. It's important to include folks at a time when many feel excluded from larger processes that impact their lives."

"Since its inception, the Black Bear Conservation Committee has been exemplary in its efforts to establish comprehensive and cooperative partnerships that have resulted in restoring over 1 million acres of forest in Louisiana black bear habitat," Williams observed. "WMI congratulates the Black Bear Conservation Committee for its initiative and remarkable successes."

WMI's 2007 Presidents Award honored the Hoosier National Forest's Early Successional Forest Management Team, whose members are Kelle A. Reynolds, Tom Thake, Cynthia M. Sandeno and Clark D. McCreedy. All four scientists work for the USDA Forest Service at the national forest in southern Indiana. The Presidents Award recognizes an agency or governmental entity for ingenuity, originality and accomplishment that significantly advance natural resources conservation in North America.

In Indiana, early successional shrubland and young forest habitats have been declining dramatically from the state's landscape. As these important habitats disappear, so do hundreds of native wildlife species including many Neotropical migrants that depend on them.

To address the challenge of conserving these habitats and species, the Early Successional Forest Management Team was formed in 2001 to develop recommendations and strategies to be incorporated into the Hoosier National Forest's Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, which was completed in 2006.

The Hoosier National Forest comprises 200,000 acres in southcentral and southeastern Indiana. This national forest comprises approximately 25 percent of the public lands in Indiana making it a vital area for conserving biodiversity in the state.

Early successional habitat generally is created in Indiana through timber harvest or clearing habitat patches within the forest, practices that proved controversial in recent years as some organizations and individuals have stressed conserving old-growth and mature forests.

"While old-growth and mature forests remain conservation concerns, the Early Successional Forest Management Team focused on the equally important issue of declining habitats dominated by grasses, shrubs and young trees," said WMI president Steve Williams. "The team has dedicated much of the last five years to educating the public about early successional habitat values, needs and the cutting edge technology to address these issues responsibly on the Hoosier National Forest."

As part of its research, team members worked to complete a complex, comprehensive landscape assessment. The assessment included documenting current and historic landscape conditions for the Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana and the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. This information was instrumental in analyzing management alternatives as part of the revised Forest Plan. The Hoosier-Shawnee Ecological Assessment included detailed studies of more than 500 wildlife species that occur on the Hoosier National Forest. Research received independent, peer review from experts within universities, state and federal agencies, environmental consulting firms and conservation organizations.

"We saw a critical need to address declining early successional shrub and young forested habitats and the resulting impact on wildlife," says Sandeno, a wildlife biologist on the management team. "In the eastern United States, bird populations that depend on these habitats for breeding have been waning since the 1960s, and most eastern states feature these birds on their protected species lists. Our team focused on developing management strategies that would reverse this situation on the Hoosier National Forest. Without active management, we could lose some of our native species. They could be extirpated from Indiana in the next five years."

"This team deserves recognition for its tenacity, enthusiasm and dedication to hard science, research and outreach," says Williams. "Their efforts will lead to a tremendous contribution to Indiana's biological diversity through implementation of their Forest Plan."