Elmendorf FY2008 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards

  • Published
  • By Airman Jack Sanders
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Elmendorf Air Force Base wins Air Force level award

Elmendorf has won the General Tomas D. White Natural Resources Conservation Award, and is now in the running for the Department of Defense level award.

Each year the Secretary of Defense honors military installations, teams and individuals for outstanding work in environmental programs. 

Some of the awards include: Natural Resources Conservation, Cultural Resources Management, Environmental Quality, Pollution Prevention, Environmental Restoration, Environmental Excellence in Weapon System Acquisition. 

Elmendorf is currently in the running for the FY 2008 Secretary of Defense Environmental Award for Natural Resources Conservation. Elmendorf has already won the General Tomas D. White Natural Resources Conservation Award at the Air Force level.

Elmendorf Air Force Base is a crucial asset to the Air Force. It's located in south-central Alaska, north of downtown Anchorage and adjacent to Fort Richardson. The 3rd Wing on Elmendorf is home to a fighting force equipped with F-22, F-15, E3-B, C-17 and C-12 aircraft and approximately 6,500 military personnel with around 9,600 family members and 1,900 civilian employees. 

Elmendorf is home to an abundance of wildlife as well. "For its size, Elmendorf has an abundance of wildlife, some considered 'mega fauna'," said Herman Griese, a wildlife biologist with the 3rd Civil Engineer Squadron, Asset Management Flight, Natural Recourses Element, Conservation Section. "Many of our species are typically considered wilderness species: moose, grizzly bear, wolf, trumpeter swan, loons, etc.," he said. 

Griese, who grew up primarily in Shreveport, Louisiana, has been working on Elmendorf for the past six years, and has had plenty of hands-on activities with the local fauna. "Residents have an opportunity to see unique Alaskan species without traveling far from their home," said Griese. 

Elmendorf has recently been working on several environmental projects. When asked what won Elmendorf this award he said, "I assume it was the breadth and diversity of our overall accomplishments, but I suspect the items that tipped the scale were the results of the recent brown bear study, our efforts to improve the Elmendorf BASH (Bird Aircraft Strike Prevention) program using habitat management and radar technology, our evapotranspiration landfill cover and the Military Conservation Agent program." 

Elmendorf's Military Conservation Agent program, which is a group of volunteer military members who are trained and handle environmental works and studies on both Elmendorf and Fort Richardson, had a very successful brown bear study in which biologists tracked brown bear with tags and collars to determine their movement patterns. 

Every Military service and Department of Defense Agency may submit a nomination for each of the nine awards to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense.