Past Presidential Migratory Bird Federal Stewardship Award Recipients

Bureau of Land Management Receives 2012 Presidential Migratory Bird Federal Stewardship Award Restore New Mexico

Restore New Mexico is an ambitious partnership to restore grasslands, woodlandsand riparian areas to a healthy and productive condition. In 2005, the New Mexico Bureau of Land Management (BLM) launched the Restore New Mexico initiative with the goal of restoring disturbed lands on a landscape scale

Mike J Johnson presents Presidential Award to Mike Pool (Deputy Director BLM)  photo credit Raymond King
 
through an ambitious partnership approach. Since then, Restore New Mexico has become a widely-successful restoration and reclamation program involving numerous agencies, organizations, ranchers and industry groups.

A model for rangeland conservation in the western United States, the Restore program has treated more than 1.8 million acres of impaired habitat, starting the transition to healthy, ecological states. The BLM, along with its partners, is rapidly approaching the two millionth acre treated milestone.

The major goal of Restore New Mexico is to reduce existing invasive and noxious species and thus allow more desirable vegetative species to flourish. This, in turn, will benefit the watershed by stabilizing soil and ultimately increase forb, grass and favorable shrub production, resulting in increased and improved habitat for a variety of wildlife.

The Council received eight nominations in 2012 from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, US Forest Service, Department of Energy, National Marine Fisheries Service, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Environmental Protection Agency

2011 Presidential Migratory Bird Federal Stewardship Award

The first award was presented in 2011 to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement for their leadership in forming the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI).  In 2004, the ARRI a local, regional, national, and international initiative was created. This initiative focuses on restoring forests where deforestation by surface coal mining has occurred, in areas which coincides largely within the Appalachian breeding range of neo-tropical migratory song birds, notably the Cerulean Warbler.  Under ARRI’s initiative, 70 million trees on about 103,000 acres of mined land that might have otherwise been reclaimed to grasslands with little potential for returning to forest because of excessive compaction of the soil and competition with dense ground cover.  The actions of ARRI are helping to build forests for neo-tropical migratory songbirds.  See fact sheet

The Council received five nominations in 2011 from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, National Park Service, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.