The eight winning private individuals and teams (with the locations of their volunteer work) are: Sheila Brewer, Albuquerque, NM; Grant Madden, Las Cruces, NM; Jerry Vertrees, Boise, ID; Joy Fisher, Lakewood, CO; Roger & Etha Brand, Salem, OR; Riley & Suzy McCoy, Tonopah, NV; The Black Rock Desert Volunteers, Winnemucca, NV; and the Upper Missouri River National Wild & Scenic River Team, Lewistown, MT.

The two BLM employees selected as winners for their outstanding leadership in the BLM Volunteer Program are: Joe Ross, Roseburg, OR, District Office; and Tony Lutonsky, Albuquerque, NM, District Office.

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SHEILA BREWER
BLM Alburquerque, New Mexico, Field Office

Over the last four years, Sheila Brewer has worked with BLM's Albuquerque, New Mexico, Field Office archaeologists to record and compile site inventory records for hundreds of American Indian rock art sites within the El Malpais National Conservation Area. Sheila's work has included locating, sketching, and photographing her finds, and completing written records for each rock art panel; in fact, each site inventory takes almost eight hours to complete. Sheila has also regularly staffed BLM's El Malpais Visitor Center, and has even developed illustrated plant identification books, including dried specimens, for both visitor and BLM staff use. In all her activities, she strives to promote awareness and stewardship of our public lands, sometimes by leading school group programs and tours for professional archaeologists. Not one to rest on her laurels, Sheila is currently working to develop a "Geologic Road Log" as a traveler educational tool for a scenic drive along New Mexico Highway 117.

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GRANT MADDEN
Dripping Springs Natural Area, Las Cruces, New Mexico

Grant Madden has contributed approximately 20,000 hours of his time to BLM over the past 8 years -- the equivalent of a ten-year full-time staffer! As one of four regular caretakers at the Dripping Springs Natural Area near Las Cruces, New Mexico, Grant staffs the Visitor Center, assists maintenance workers, picks up trash, and answers visitors' questions. As if that weren't enough, Grant provided hours of fire support during New Mexico's severe 2000 fire season, including fire weather reporting, dispatching, driving, and working in the ground support unit at the interagency staging area. Grant has also provided leadership in using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to map the Dripping Springs National Recreation Trail and other features of the Natural Area. He has also contributed labor for installation of water catchments, substituted for campground hosts at other BLM-Las Cruces recreation sites, and performed field patrols of Wilderness Study Areas. It is estimated that the monetary value of Grant's contributions to BLM over the course of his volunteer career is approximately a quarter of a million dollars.

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JERRY VERTREES
Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, Boise, Idaho

As an individual volunteer at BLM-Idaho's Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, Jerry Vertrees has educated school children about the area and its famous wildlife, staffed information booths at community events, overseen environmental education programs, supervised National Public Lands Day construction projects, and monitored spring and summer recreational activities within the National Conservation Area. Jerry also contributes labor as part of Snake River Raptor Volunteers, Inc., training and supervising other volunteers, disseminating information, and serving as a community liaison. He has also conducted multi-day Wilderness Study Area monitoring trips, replaced signs, inventoried roads, and performed other functions on remote lands administered by the BLM-Owyhee Field Office. To stay informed, Jerry frequently attends BLM-convened gatherings, such as Resource Advisory Council meetings, and avidly reads community-oriented natural resource articles and documents.

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JOY FISHER
BLM State Office, Lakewood, Colorado

A 12-year volunteer with BLM's Colorado State Office, 89-year-old Joy Fisher has averaged more than 25 hours of volunteer labor per week, donating over 15,600 hours during her tenure there. Joy has been responsible for maintaining and updating over 50,000 land records and the Historical Index for BLM-Colorado's 8.3 million acres of surface lands and 27 million acres of mineral estate. She maintains a master set of records in the State Office, and ensures that records in 15 field offices are accurate, intact, and up-to-date. Meticulous, professional, and well-organized, Joy can be counted on to provide accurate information and fast access to records that are critical to the work and livelihoods of historians, lawyers, title companies, mining companies, ranchers, farmers -- and land managers such as BLM.

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ROGER & ETHA BRAND
Fishermen's Bend Recreation Site, Salem, Oregon

Over the past nine years, Roger & Etha Brand, a husband-and-wife team from Redding, California, have volunteered over 1,200 hours of their time each season at BLM's Fishermen's Bend Recreation Site near Salem, Oregon. Their contributions have included campground and day-use site hosting, staffing of the site's main office, operation of the local recycling program, and performance of virtually any odd job that has arisen at the site's many diverse facilities. In addition, Roger, a retired mechanic, has kept all of the site's equipment and tools in good repair, saving BLM thousands of dollars.

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RILEY & SUZY McCOY
Rhyolite Ghost Town, Beatty, Nevada

As BLM's winter caretakers of the Gold-Rush-era Rhyolite Ghost Town near Beatty, Nevada, Riley and Suzy McCoy have each contributed well over 6,200 hours of volunteer time to this historic site. Suzy has completed a Class II Cultural Inventory of historic features and artifacts within the town, publishing her findings in a 300-page document that includes maps, photographs, and drawings. The publication was distributed to, and is used by, BLM, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the Nevada Historical Society.

Suzy also authored an informational brochure about the town of Rhyolite, which has been translated into several different languages. In Riley's time at Rhyolite, he has given several tours a day of its famous "bottle house" -- including one for the Governor of Virginia -- and has participated in the filming of a number of documentaries. He also answers visitor questions about the town, aids stranded tourists, repairs BLM signs, assists BLM staff in creating diversion ditches, picks up trash, patrols the town to prevent looting and damage, and has also helped to repair the bottle house roof. Both Suzy and Riley also serve as volunteer District Archaeological Technicians for BLM.

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BLACK ROCK DESERT VOLUNTEERS
Black Rock Desert, Winnemucca, Nevada

A combined core group of 24 individual volunteers and representatives from seven volunteer and user groups, the Black Rock Desert Volunteers protect and enhance northwestern Nevada's Black Rock Desert, America's largest playa (dry lake bed). Among their innumerable contributions, the Volunteers help to educate visitors about the area's diverse natural, cultural, and recreational resources; operate visitor contact stations; and participate in resource management activities such as visitor-use data collection, wilderness boundary marking and monitoring, and GPS mapping of permitted events and their potential impacts. They also have contributed to land use planning efforts and environmental impact statements, assisted with volunteer training, and instructed "Leave No Trace" and "Tread Lightly!" ethics and techniques at large events such as the annual Burning Man arts festival. And getting their hands dirty is all in a day's work for these volunteers, too: in one day in 1997, for example, some of the Black Rock Desert Volunteers cleaned up an illegal dump on the western playa edge, piling up—by hand—nine tons of wood and 16 tons of metal, including 26 miles of barbed wire.

UPPER MISSOUR NATIONAL WILD AND SCENIC RIVER TEAM
Lewistown, Montana

This diverse team of volunteers is responsible for myriad public services that benefit thousands of visitors to Montana's Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River, one of the routes used on Lewis and Clark's famous 1805 expedition. At recreational campgrounds along the river, Team members have caulked restroom walls and painted floors, installed signs and lighting, provided educational materials about BLM and this beautiful area, taught "Leave No Trace" ethics, and even developed a newsletter to spread information about current events and projects along the river. They've also accomplished work to benefit the river and its surroundings, planting tree saplings in remote areas. Over the last three visitor seasons, the Team has registered more than 13,000 visitors and volunteered thousands of hours to support recreation in this area.

JOE ROSS
BLM Volunteer Coordinator, Roseburg, Oregon

As the Roseburg District Office's Volunteer Coordinator, Supervisory Multiple Resource Specialist Joe Ross took the initiative to conduct a volunteer program needs analysis. Since presenting his findings to his District management team, he has been chairing a volunteer program committee to steadily implement recommendations for improving the District's volunteer program. Joe's efforts have resulted in clear definitions of volunteer program roles and responsibilities, incorporation of diverse populations into BLM's volunteer workforce, and development of productive partnerships with community schools and other youth organizations. Joe has also set up a "Linking Girls to the Land" partnership with the local Girl Scout Council to facilitate Girl Scout outdoor education programs. As Roseburg's Team Leader for National Public Lands Day (NPLD) 2000, Joe developed partnerships with numerous public and private organizations; thanks in large part to his efforts, on that one day, more than 360 volunteers completed ten projects on public lands, worth an estimated $200,000. Joe's NPLD 2000 efforts have also been recognized by Oregon's "Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism" (SOLV) organization, whose Board unanimously voted to bestow on BLM-Roseburg its award for "Best Partnership Development." The Governor of Oregon will present the award in a May 2001 ceremony.

TONY LUTONSKY
BLM Archaeologist, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Over the past five years, Archaeologist Tony Lutonsky has developed a dedicated and effective cadre of volunteers to assist BLM-Albuquerque in locating and monitoring archaeological sites within the District. Tony's group of volunteers has collectively put in many hundreds of hours collecting data on public lands, monitoring public use, and raising awareness of the importance of conserving public lands and their resources. Tony takes the time and effort to instruct each volunteer in site identification and recording, and in conducting cultural resource clearances for proposed actions on public lands. The volunteers now collect data and assist Tony in writing his reports. They also provide routine patrols to protect archaeological resources, and sometimes "catch someone in the act." Three years ago, for example, patrolling volunteers noted suspicious activity by some visitors at a site, radioed their location and other information to law enforcement, who ultimately arrested the suspects. On a weekly basis, Tony makes a special effort to join his volunteers in the field for training, mentoring of new group members, or just keeping up with news from the group's long-time volunteers. Tony's personal approach to volunteer supervision builds strong partnerships and creates dedicated public land stewards.