News Release

PACD Presents Conservation Awards
Ron Rohall Receives 2007 PACD Excellence Award
PA AML Campaign Receives 2007 PACD President's Award

(Scranton, PA) - The Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, Inc. (PACD) hosted a conservation awards program today to acknowledge efforts of individuals and organizations that further the activities and accomplishments of conservation districts on a statewide basis.

Ron Rohall (left) accepts the Ann Rudd Saxman Conservation District Directors Excellence Award from PACD President Victor Cappucci during the PACD Awards Luncheon.

The Ann Rudd Saxman Conservation District Director Excellence Award is given to a conservation district director or associate director for his or her outstanding volunteer efforts that have furthered the activities and accomplishments of conservation districts on a statewide basis. The 2007 award was presented to Ronald Rohall, director at the Westmoreland Conservation District. Rohall has served on the WCD Board of Directors for the past 14 years. Since 1993, he has been the county's delegate to PACD conventions, and was elected Secretary to the PACD Board in 1995. In 1997 he was named first vice-President, and in 2001 served two years as president of the organization. Rohall's involvement with PACD also includes chairing the Forestry Resources Committee (1995-2001), chairing the Participation Task Force in 2001, serving as an inaugural member of the Building for Tomorrow Leadership and Professional Development Program Committee since 1996, a member of the Pennsylvania Deer Management Working Group (1998-2000), and a current member of the PACD Legislative Committee. Rohall is also an active member of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), serving on the NACD Forest Resources Committee and the NACD Legislative Committee. While serving on the NACD Forest Resources Committee, Rohall shepherded the adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between PACD, 20 conservation districts, the PA Bureau of Forestry, and the USDA Forest Service. This MOU represented the first time a formal relationship had been established between these groups and enabled a framework for many subsequent joint projects. Most recently, representing PACD as a member of the PA Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Campaign, Rohall helped ensure the enactment of legislation reauthorizing of the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act. This act will provide funding of at least $1.4 billion dollars over the next fifteen years for cleanup of abandoned mine land in Pennsylvania.

PACD President Victor Cappucci stated, "Ron is one of the most dedicated conservationists I know. His work on the state and national level shows his commitment to sound resource conservation policy and his desire to help his fellow man. I am pleased to present Ron with the Ann Rudd Saxman Award today."

John Dawes (left), chairman of the AML Coalition, accepts the PACD President's Award from President Victor Cappucci during the PACD Awards Luncheon.

The PACD President's Award is given to an individual, organization, or agency for their outstanding efforts that have resulted in furthering the accomplishments of the non-profit organization, PACD. This year's PACD Presidential Award goes to the PA AML Campaign for their tireless efforts to secure reauthorization of the AML Program after an exhausting, resilient 3½ year legislative campaign in Congress. The AML Campaign is a coalition of Pennsylvania environmental organizations which formed around this very issue. Despite great odds the AML Campaign succeeded in getting legislation passed and signed into law extending the AML Program. The AML Reauthorization, which amends the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), extends the AML Program for at least 15 years and will triple AML funds PA receives from reclamation fees collected on every ton of coal produced. PA is expected to receive at least $1.4 billion over the next 15 years to clean up the worst Priority 1 and 2 AML sites. Pennsylvania has had the most at stake in this long debate with the most AML acreage in the nation (250,000 acres), 44 out of 67 PA counties blighted, and 4,600 miles of biologically dead streams and rivers.

Despite a huge setback at the end of July 2006, when the AML legislation was attached to a highly controversial, doomed to fail complex estate tax bill, the PA AML Campaign continued to press ahead, and working with a broad array of interest groups persuaded Congress to pass the legislation. Accepting the award on behalf of the PA AML Campaign is John Dawes, Chairman of the Coalition. PACD President Cappucci stated, "It is an honor to present John with the PACD President's Award on behalf of the PA AML Campaign. The perseverance it took to secure passage of legislation bringing over a billion federal dollars should not go unnoticed. PACD thanks the PA AML Campaign for their tireless efforts."

PACD, Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization representing Pennsylvania's 66 conservation districts. For more information on the PACD Conservation Awards Program visit http://www.pacd.org/about/award_progr.htm.

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