MWRO Natural Resource Specialist Wins National Wild Award

Sue Jennings, Natural Resource Planner with the National Park Service (NPS) in Omaha, has been named the 2007 recipient of the annual Frank Church Wild and Scenic Rivers Award bestowed by the River Management Society (RMS).

Initiated in 2000, the award recognizes individuals who advance awareness of and develop innovative management techniques for the protection of wild and scenic rivers, and do so by fostering coordination among constituencies and working effectively with user groups, private landowners, and the general public to protect and advance wild and scenic rivers. The award is named in honor of former U.S. Senator Frank Forrester Church III (1924-1984). Church represented the State of Idaho, and was a strong liberal and environmental legislator. He played a major role in the creation of the nation's system of protected wilderness areas in the 1960s and, in 1968, he sponsored the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Jennings is the Wild and Scenic Rivers Program Leader for the NPS 13-state Midwest Region. Her primary work has been on the Missouri (Neb., S.D.), Niobrara (Neb.), Little Miami (Ohio), and Darby (Ohio) Rivers in the past few years; however, she has worked in service of all the river parks in the Region. Prior to beginning service in the Midwest Regional Office in 2000, Jennings served as the Chief, Resource Management Division at the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and the Obed Wild and Scenic River, Tenn., and Resource Management Specialist at the Saint Croix National Scenic River, Wis. Her other NPS assignments include Carl Sandburg Home National Monument, N.C., and the Blue Ridge Parkway, N.C. and Va. Jennings currently serves as Chair of the NPS National Task Force on Wild and Scenic Rivers, represents the NPS on the Interagency Wild and Scenic Rivers Coordinating Council, and is on the NPS national Critical Incident Management Team which offers various support services to NPS staff and their families during critical, life altering incidents.

"On a day-to-day basis, Sue shows the utmost of dedication to the protection of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System through her diligent work on behalf of each of the rivers she touches," said Sandra Washington, Chief of Planning and Compliance for the Midwest Region.

A native of East Lansing, Mich., Jennings holds a Bachelor degree in forestry and natural resource management from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Jennings worked for private forestry firms and the U.S. Forest Service prior to coming to the NPS in 1987. In her spare time, Jennings enjoys hiking, kayaking and playing old time fiddle music. She serves on the board of the Great Plains Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association and is the founding President of the Big Muddy Fiddle Club.

The RMS is a national nonprofit professional organization which supports professionals who study, protect, and manage North America's rivers. The RMS has its roots in the former Interagency Whitewater Committee, and has emerged as a result of the 1996 merger of the American River Management Society and the River Federation. Dedicated to holistic river management, the RMS's membership includes federal, state, and local agency employees; educators; researchers; consultants; and organizations and citizens from the private sector.

Source: NPS

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