practices throughout the business and retail sectors.

President's Environment and Conservation Challenge Awards

In November 1992, for the second year, President Bush bestowed medals for excellence in the field of environmental conservation, just as Presidents long have honored Americans for excellence in the arts, humanities, sciences, and world affairs. The presidential medals for environmental achievement represent the nation's highest honor in this field. The President's Environment and Conservation Challenge Awards recognize citizens and organizations for outstanding contributions to the environmental quality of the nation.

In 1992 an independent selection committee judged applications and selected 9 presidential medal recipients and 13 citation recipients in the following categories:

• Environmental Quality Manage-
ment,

Medal

Florida Save Our Everglades Program; State of Florida and partners, Tallahassee, FL

Think Earth Environmental Education Program; Southern California "Think Earth" Environmental Education Consortium, Lakewood, CA

Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers Environmental Action Program; Saunders Hotels Group, Inc., Boston, MA

• Partnership,

• Innovation, and

• Education and Communication. Descriptions of the nine medal recipients follow.

Save Our Everglades. This program to preserve and restore Florida's unique wetlands ecosystem includes restoration of the Kissimmee River and protection of Lake Okeechobee, state Water Conservation Areas, Big Cypress

Citation

Compressed Natural Gas
Vehicle Conversion Projects;
New Mexico Department
of Energy, Minerals, and
Natural Resources, Santa Fe,
NM, and the Gas Company
of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM

Santa Rosa Plateau
Agreement; Metropolitan
Water District of
Southern California and
partners, Los Angeles, CA

Keep Texas Beautiful; Keep
Texas Beautiful, Inc.,
Austin, TX

Partnership for Wetlands Conservation; The Dow

Chemical Company and

partners, Midland, MI

Corporate Environmental Policies; 3COM Corporation, Santa Clara, CA

Swamp, the Florida panther, and other endangered wildlife. The program has acquired 290,000 acres of land and constructed 36 wildlife highway crossings and bridges to protect endangered species and improve hydrology. It also helped pass landmark federal and state legislation. Partners include the State of Florida, the 22 conservation groups that form the Everglades Coalition, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National

tion Control District, and the Ventura Regional Sanitation District.

Energy Conservation Collaboration. The once unlikely union of an electric utility, the New England Electric System of Westboro, Massachusetts, and an environmental group, the Conservation Law Foundation of New England, has resulted in two major achievements: development of a successful energy conservation program and regulatory approval for a utility earnings incentive. The partners designed a new facility, known as the "powerplant that conservation built." The design has reduced air pollutants and the need for new capacity, while saving money for consumers and stockholders.

IBM Environmental Management and Conservation. IBM Corporation has demonstrated that a large company can institutionalize and practice environmental protection and conservation through sound policy practices, executive leadership, and employee commitment. The company's record of accomplishments results from meeting or exceeding government regulations and, where none exist, from setting and adhering to its own stringent standards.

Boston Park Plaza Environmental Action. The Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers has undertaken an environmental campaign with 85 initiatives involving all departments of the hotel. The environmental actions of this family-owned and operated landmark property demonstrate that the competitive hospitality service industry can make changes that benefit the environment, while maintaining quality service and standards.

CFC Solvent Phaseout. In 1988 Northern Telecom, Inc., pledged and attained the complete phaseout of CFC

113 solvents from its 42 manufacturing and research operations worldwide. By the end of 1991 Northern Telecom, the first global telecommunications company to make such a pledge, had eliminated the use of these solvents in all of its operations. The phaseout reduced CFC solvent emissions into the atmosphere from 1,000 tons per year to zero in three years.

South Coast Recycled Auto Project (SCRAP). The Unocal Corporation sponsored SCRAP, an unprecedented effort to improve air quality in the Los Angeles Basin by scrapping heavily polluting, pre-1971 cars. In four months, the company purchased and crushed for recycling 8,376 old cars. SCRAP reduced air pollutants by 13 million pounds per year at a cost of 50 cents per pound.

People for Community Recovery. A grassroots environmental education and advocacy organization, People for Community Recovery, Inc., serves a predominantly low-income, AfricanAmerican community in Chicago. PCR assesses environmental hazards in the community and mobilizes constituents to alleviate the hazards. Hazel Johnson, the group's founder and executive director, is a national leader in the grassroots environmental movement.

Chesapeake Bay Environmental Education. The Outdoor Environmental Education Program of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation provides field instruction in estuarine issues to students, teachers, and other people throughout the Bay watershed. The goal is to create a constituency that not only values and understands the bay but works to restore it. Hands-on water activities involve canoes, rowboats, skipjacks, powerboats, and work on a model low-input farm operated by the Foundation.

Public Lands

T

he U.S. government manages natural resources on federal lands to provide for the needs of present and future generations. A policy of sustainable multiple use provides range, timber, minerals, watersheds, fish and wildlife habitat, wilderness, and recreation, while maintaining scenic and cultural values. Protected from unregulated development, public lands support resource development that sustains the long-term productivity of soils, waters, plants, and animals. Some federal lands and natural resources are managed for special uses, such as parks, military training, grazing, endangered species, and outdoor recreation. For example, on lands managed by the departments of the Interior and Agriculture, 95 million acres (15 percent) are designated wilderness.

Conditions and Trends

In 1992 public land management reflected the nation's demand for a balance between environmental and eco

nomic values. Federal land managers worked to meet the public desire to protect natural landscapes while providing resources for economic growth. Increased populations in the western states are influencing federal land management, which no longer occurs in isolated settings but in close proximity to residential areas. Today federal land managers coordinate actions closely with states, municipalities, and the private sector.

Policies and Programs

In 1992 federal land agencies continued to take a leadership role in defining new ways to achieve effective stewardship of natural resources.

Public Rangelands

Together the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the USDA Forest Service manage a quarter of a billion acres of land available for use by livestock. Grazing fees for federal pastures remain a controversial issue.