(JUNEAU, AK) July 18, 2011- The Student Conservation Association (SCA), the national leader in youth service and stewardship, recently awarded SCA member’s Megan Barnhart and Travis Bushman the SCA Conservation Leadership Award for their outstanding contributions and service to public lands stewardship.
Bushman and Barnhart served in the Alaska Regional Office of the U.S. Forest Service, supporting the region’s sustainable recreation strategy by helping rural communities develop recreational services, connecting local residents to the benefits of their forests, and strengthening public education and outreach.
The work of both SCA interns proved highly advantageous to the regional office, with Barnhart organizing and leading a number of community gatherings to help visitors identify the benefits and values associated with national forests, and Bushman developing the world’s first, “tweeting glacier,” a blog and social media outlet allowing short-term visitors to track the calving and movement of Mendenhall glacier from anywhere in the world.
Awards were presented to each intern at a ceremony in Juneau, Alaska, with Alaska Regional Forester Beth Pendleton providing each intern with a regional “thank you” gift as well. Present at the event was Bushman and Barnhart’s supervisor, AK Regional Partnership Coordinator Jeff Miller, along with AK Deputy Regional Forester Ruth Monahan and over twenty additional Alaska U.S. Regional Forest Service staff.
Both interns will continue work as Forest Service seasonal staffers in Alaska this summer at the nation’s largest woodland area, the Tongass National Forest. In addition to receiving their awards from SCA, Megan Barnhart was recently accepted to University of Montana’s Peace Corps Master International program where she plans to study and research community-based natural resource management; Travis Bushman was accepted into the Forest Service’s Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), with prospective employment opportunities available after completing his master’s degree.
Don Hunger, Associate Vice President of Partnership Development at SCA, who was present at the awards ceremony stated, “this year SCA is proud to honor two of its members who have helped SCA continue its work of ‘building the next generation of conservation leaders.’ We should be really proud of Travis and Megan. They represent the best of SCA today, and the future of conservation leadership.”
About the Student Conservation Association
The Student Conservation Association (SCA) is the only national organization that develops tomorrow’s conservation leaders by providing high school and college students with conservation service opportunities in all 50 states, from urban communities to national parks and forests. Since 1957, SCA’s hands-on practice of conservation service has helped to develop new generations of conservation leaders, inspire lifelong stewardship, and save the planet. SCA is a non-profit headquartered in Charlestown, NH and maintains regional offices in Boise, ID, Oakland, CA, Pittsburgh, PA, Seattle, WA, and Washington, D.C. For more, visit www.thesca.org