Two Ketchikan Forest Service employees, Dennis Landwehr and Ron Medel, are being nationally recognized for their outstanding contributions to protect and restore fisheries and watershed resources on the Tongass National Forest. The prestigious Rise to the Future Awards are the highest national recognition for watershed resources accomplishment that the Forest Service grants.
Landwehr received the Field Soil Scientist award. Landwehr is recognized for his sustained personal and professional excellence and the notable contribution he has made to the Soil and Watershed Programs of the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the nation. His accomplishments in integrated inventory and monitoring, restoration and timber planning enhances the Forest Service’s multiple use mission and provide a foundation for the credibility and success of the transition from old-growth to young-growth forest management. Dennis has been a soil scientist on the Tongass National Forest since 1988. Dennis has also been an integral part of a landslide working group by assisting community, state and federal entities better understand landslide dynamics.
Ron Medel receives a Life-Time Achievement acknowledgment for his professional excellence in fish management. Medel is recognized for sustained high performance fostering technically sound fish/aquatic resource management and innovative approaches with lasting impact in on aquatic resource management, monitoring and mentoring.
The awards will be presented later this year in Washington, D.C.
