Daniel Weber is 2001 Pankratz Conservation Award Winner
Daniel Weber, a natural resources major at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC), has been named as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Norman Pankratz Memorial Conservation Award. The award was established to honor a former conservation student at UMC. According to Professor Dan Svedarsky, chair of the selection committee and program manager for UMC’s Natural Resources Department, the award is “our version of the Oscar in the Natural Resources Department.”
 UMC
Professor of Natural Resources Dan Svedarsky, left, presents the Norman Pankratz
Memorial Conservation Award plaque to UMC
student Dan Weber, right, of Crookston |
In addition to having his name displayed on a plaque in the Natural Resources Department on the second floor of Owen Hall at UMC, Weber will receive a $ 600 scholarship. After learning that he had received the award, Weber remarked, “We are all touched by many events in life, as well as those individuals whose passions, beliefs, and teachings inspire us to keep moving when the going gets tough. As I’ve learned more about Norman Pankratz, he will be one of those people for me. It is truly an honor to be selected for this award.”
Norman Pankratz, a 1970 graduate of UMC from St. Paul, was tragically killed in a railroad accident not long after his graduation. Money from a life insurance policy in his name was designated to continue his passion for conservation, and so the Norman Pankratz Memorial Conservation Award was established. The award has been presented annually since it was first presented in 1971.
Weber is from Crookston and is a junior focusing on the natural resources management major within UMC's natural resources degree program. He has just been accepted into the Student Career Employment Program of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). This program provides work experience with the agency during a student’s coursework and typically transitions into a permanent position upon graduation.
“Dan is ideally suited for a career with this agency since he farmed for several years and has a realistic grasp of the many issues involved with land use and agriculture,” noted Professor Svedarsky. In Weber’s application for the award, he wrote: “An asset that I bring to this new career is my vast experience in agriculture. I have a passion for the land, and am able to relate with farmers and other landowners. This ability, along with the self-assuredness obtained from my program of study at UMC, will enable me to become part of the team working to provide society with a better tomorrow by educating and assisting landowners as they implement conservation practices today.”
Posted 05/07/2001
Contact: Andrew Svec,
218-281-8435