Congressman Nick J. Rahall, II Recipient of the
West Virginia Land Trust Special Places Award

CHARLESTON, WV — The 7th annual West Virginia Land Trust (WVLT) Special Places Award will be presented on February 4, 2011, at The Woman’s Club of Charleston to Congressman Nick J. Rahall, II.

The Special Places Award is presented to individuals and/or organizations that have made a significant contribution to land conservation in West Virginia by demonstrating leadership, working to improve the practice, and advancing land conservation through direct involvement with the land trust movement. Recipients of the Special Places Award show persistence and dedication to long term conservation of natural resources, advancement of conservation goals, and display attributes of true conservation stewardship.

Congressman Rahall of Beckley represents the Third Congressional District of West Virginia. First elected in 1976, he is currently serving his 17th term and is the Dean of the West Virginia Delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. Rahall serves as the Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

During his time in Congress, Representative Rahall has helped to shape national legislation to improve land conservation in West Virginia. He is the author of the 1978 legislation, which established the New River Gorge National River as a unit of the National Park System in southern West Virginia. Ten years later he gained enactment of legislation to designate the Gauley River National Recreation Area and the Bluestone National Scenic River, in the process creating the largest network of federally protected rivers in the eastern United States. Rahall legislation also established the National Coal Heritage Area in 11 southern West Virginia counties. Most recently Congressman Rahall has been an effective voice in Washington in seeing that the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a federal funding source which provides dedicated funding for land conservation and outdoor recreation, is annually funded at its authorized level of $900 million.

Previous awards for his environmental work include the 1997 Citizen’s Coal Council award, the 1996 “Keeper of the Flame Award” presented in 1996 by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, the 1990 “Friend of the Earth Award” for his work on protecting the coalfield environment, the Sierra Club’s 1988 “Seneca Award” for Outstanding Environmental Stewardship, American River’s 1988 “River Conservation Award,” the Ansel Adams Award from the Wilderness Society in 2004, and the Mountaineer Conservation Leadership Award from the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition on Earth Day 2005.

The WVLT is a private, member-supported, non-profit organization and West Virginia’s only statewide land trust. Since its incorporation in 1995, the organization has helped protect over 17,000 acres statewide through voluntary conservation easements. Conservation easements are voluntary contracts between a landowner and a land trust, such as the WVLT, government agency or another qualified organization. These contracts allow the landowner to place permanent restrictions on the future uses of some or all of their property for the purpose of protecting scenic, wildlife, botanical, recreational, agricultural or historical resources.

Previous Special Places Award winners include Dolly Wallace Hartman, Holmes and Antoinette Morrison, Tom Lane, the Armbrecht Family, the Monroe County Farmland Protection Board, Senator Brooks McCabe, and Joyce McConnell.

The WVLT’s mission is to help preserve the special places that give West Virginia’s its distinctive character. If you would like to volunteer, become a member or need more information on the West Virginia Land Trust please visit: www.wvlandtrust.org, call 866.982.5863 or email wvlandtrust@te-associates.com.