FOR RELEASE: MAY 23, 2006
CONTACT: Claire Birney 610-268-2153 x230
From left to right: Andrea Sweeney, Bern Sweeney, Alice Matthews, GCA Executive Committee President
MARGARET DOUGLAS MEDAL
Sweeney
was honored for his long and distinguished career in research and public
education. His visionary leadership of the Stroud Center has enhanced the
understanding of and appreciation for the important role that streams, rivers
and their and watersheds play in the health of our planet. As Director,
President and Senior Research scientist since 1989 he has established the Stroud
Center as perhaps the world’s foremost research organization devoted to stream
and river ecosystems.
In awarding the medal to
Sweeney, the GCA noted: ”He has pioneered the study of riparian vegetation and
the buffering effects it can have against non-point source water pollution. He
has been a voice of calm and reason, using impeccable scientific research to
support fair and effective solutions to a wide range of environmental problems
through a team approach. He has been very involved in the evolution of the New
York City water supply, the study of subtropical streams in Costa Rica and of
tropical fresh water systems in South America.
In addition, he has contributed thousands of hours of his own time
helping solve environmental problems in his own community and across the
country.”
Sweeney responded by offering a
request and a challenge to the roomful of representatives of garden clubs from
across the country. He asked each
club president to suggest to her members that “gardening for water” is far
more important than “watering their gardens,” and he challenged them to
invite each of the nation’s 17,500 garden club members to convert 100 square
feet of their own lawns to a native plant garden and to recruit one neighbor to
do the same. These seemingly small acts, said Sweeney, would have a substantial
cumulative impact on the nation’s fresh water by reducing the amount of
mowing, fertilizer, and pesticides required to maintain a lawn and by increasing
capacity of their back yards to absorb rain. This collective effort would be the
beginning a national movement, spearheaded by the Stroud Center and the Garden
Club of America, to expand the role of native plants in providing clean fresh
water to the nation. The 650 people in the room responded to the challenge with
a standing ovation.
Dr. Sweeney has published over forty articles. His
many awards include the United States Department of Agriculture and Natural
Resources Conservation Service’s 2003
Excellence in Conservation Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation on May 2nd of this year.
The Margaret Douglas Medal was designed in 1952 by
Rene P. Chambellan, presented and endowed by Mrs. Robert D. Sterling, Garden
Club of Dublin and Monadnock Garden Club, to honor Mrs. Walter Douglas, a Member
at Large. Previous medal recipients include Mrs. Avery Rockefeller, Mrs. Gerrish
Milliken and Merlin Tuttle, last year’s awardee.
The
Medal is awarded on the joint recommendation of the Conservation Committee and
the Medal Award Committee for notable service to the cause of conservation
education. Although preference is
given to Garden Club of America members, the medal may be given to a non-member.
National Awards are given each year by the GCA to landscape designers,
educators, writers, environmentalists, horticulturists, flower arrangers and
conservationists across the country who have made a significant contributions in
their fields.
The
Garden Club of America www.gcamerica.org
The
Garden Club of America, with headquarters in New York City, is a non-profit
national organization comprised of more than 17,500 members of GCA clubs who
dedicate their energies and expertise to projects in their communities and
across the nation. Founded in 1913, The Garden Club of America is a recognized
national leader in the fields of horticulture, conservation and civic
improvement. Currently, there are 196 member clubs in 40 states and Washington,
DC as well as 8 foreign courtesy clubs. The Garden Club of America does not
accept individual membership. Only established garden clubs may be considered
for membership after years of recognized civic contributions within their
communities.
The
purpose of The Garden Club of America is to stimulate the knowledge and love of
gardening; to share the advantages of association by means of educational
meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications; and to restore, improve,
and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and
action within the fields of conservation and civic improvement.