A Navajo family enterprise in Arizona, a New Jersey medical doctor, and a prominent Colorado educator today were selected by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall to receive Conservation Service Awards from the Department for outstanding contributions in safeguarding natural resources.
The award to the Navajo conservationists was the first family group award in the Department's history.
Denet Tsosie and Willie Shirley of Chinle, Ariz., along with the 12 members of their families, were cited for their pioneering work in improving a large area on the Navajo Indian Reservation for grazing. Their efforts were characterized as "an example of unusual moral courage, together with technical and management skill applied in the highest traditions of the Department's concepts for conservation of the Nation's natural resources."
The clearing, seeding, and fencing pattern developed by Denet Tsosie and his son-in-law, Willie Shirley, began in 1955 and has become a model for livestock farmers on and off the reservation.
Dr. Paul H. Fluck, 73 N. Union St., Lambertville, N. J., was selected for the award because of his many activities associated with nature preservation and the Washington Crossing Nature Conservation Center in Pennsylvania and for his exceptional record in banding wild birds for scientific purposes. Dr. Fluck has given nature lectures to hundreds of thousands of people at the Center, where he established a bird-banding station in 1952 and since has banded nearly 100,000 birds.
"The message you have so effectively delivered at the Washington Crossing Nature Conservation Center has increased the interest and participation of thousands of people in working toward better wildlife management," Secretary Udall said in the citation for Dr. Fluck.
Jack V. K. Wagar, 415 E. Laurel St., Fort Collins, Colo., was honored for his 40 years "as an educator in the field of recreation policy, wildlife, wilderness, and wildland resources management." Mr. Wagar is Emeritus Professor and Emeritus Head of the Department of Forest Recreation and Wildlife Conservation, Colorado State University.
"Your formulation of the Forest Recreation program at Colorado State University has gained a national reputation and many of your students have secured responsible positions in Federal agencies responsible for land management," his citation reads. "Indicative of your constant work for conservation have been your activities in the Wildlife Society, American Forestry Association, and American Association for the Advancement of Science, the United Nations Scientific Conferences on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources, and the Inter-American Conference on the Conservation of Renewable Natural Resources."
