5/19/03

Bob Lowry, 334/844-9999

AUBURN SCIENTIST WINS 2003 NATIONAL WETLANDS AWARD

Graeme Lockaby

AUBURN -- Graeme Lockaby, professor and acting associate dean of Auburn University's School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, has won the 2003 National Wetlands Award for Science Research.

He will be honored at a ceremony on Tuesday (May 20) at the Senate Caucus Room in Washington, D.C.

Since 1989, the National Wetlands Awards program has honored exceptional individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary effort, innovation and excellence in wetland conservation, research or education through programs or projects at the regional, state or local level.

The program is sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service.

For the past 20 years, Lockaby has researched nutrient cycling in floodplains, the effects of changing uses of rural land, ownership fragmentation, and urban development on forested landscapes and the biogeochemical functions of flood plain forests.

He also leads AU's Peaks of Excellence Program in Forest Sustainability, an interdisciplinary approach to examine the interplay among ecological, sociological and economic factors as they affect and are affected by landscape change.

Lockaby also mentors, collaborates with and edits his graduate students' dissertations.

"As an educator, Graeme has guided some of our top graduate students in wetlands ecology," said Jack Feminella, associate professor of invertebrate ecology in AU's Department of Biological Sciences. "However, he guides not just from his office and laboratory, but also, in large part, from the field. Despite the impressive number of students and field projects, Graeme is perhaps the most hands-on research faculty member with whom I have ever been associated."

"Wetlands are complex and extraordinary ecosystems that perform vital environmental functions," said Dale Bosworth, chief of the USDA Forest Service. "They improve water quality by filtering pollutants and trapping sediment, provide wildlife habitat and absorb rainfall to reduce flooding. The work of these award recipients to protect and restore our critical wetland resources is truly commendable.

may03:AU-wetlands

CONTACT: Erica Pencak, 202/939-3822.