NF’s
in Mississippi
Receive John
McGuire Award
On
December 14, 2006, NAFSR President
George Leonard traveled to Jackson, Mississippi and awarded the prestigious John
McGuire
Award to the NF’s in Mississippi
for the Forests efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
Region 8 Regional Forester Chuck Meyer, along
with NAFSR SE Representative Ralph Mumme,
assisted
George Leonard in presenting the award to Forest Supervisor Tony Dixon. Chief Dale Bosworth was scheduled to participate, however, fog in DC cancelled his
flight.
Approximately
two hundred Forest employees were
present at the awards ceremony,
along with the State Forester of Mississippi, numerous Congressional
Staffers,
industry representatives, and Forest Service retirees.
In addition to the beautiful wooden plaque
presented to the Forest, each of the
employees
received a paper certificate with a replica of the award including
their
individual names.
The
John McGuire Award was presented
to employees, both active and retired, on the National Forests in Mississippi in
recognition of the extraordinary and unprecedented accomplishments in
the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In spite
of many individual personal hardships, the employees were able to
initiate
restoration of healthy forest and critical wildlife habitat while doing
so in
expeditious, effective, and safe manner.
Over
305 million board feet of
damaged timber was recovered and 1400 miles of road were cleared and
opened to
public use. Extensive efforts to reduce
the hazardous fuels in the wildland/urban
interface,
installing 135 cavity inserts for the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, and
numerous
miles of forest trails reopened to the public.
More than a half million individuals were directly assisted or
benefited
in the surrounding communities.
NAFSR
President George Leonard in his
remarks stressed the “extraordinary efforts of all the employees, some
in spite
of numerous individual hardships, to bring the Forest
back into productivity in the short span of 16 months”.
“George pointed out that John McGuire would
be proud of the employees and their truly “can-do” attitude.”
From left to right, Southern
Region Regional Forester, Chuck Meyer,
NFs in Mississippi Forest Supervisor, Tony Dixon, and National
Association of Forest Service Retirees President, George Leonard