- http://www.umcrookston.edu/academics/departments/NatR/NatR/
Weber Receives Cabela’s Conservation Award
Daniel Weber of Crookston was recently named the recipient 2003 Cabela’s Conservation Award. The award celebrates the role of hunting and fishing in conservation and is awarded to a student majoring in natural resources at the
University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC). Weber is a recent graduate in water resource management at UMC and is “an excellent role model of a conservation student,” according to award coordinator and UMC wildlife professor John Loegering.
Dan Weber is congratulated by Cabela’s
East Grand Forks store manager, David Lueth. Above, from left,
Weber, Lueth, and University of Minnesota, Crookston faculty members
John Loegering and Dan Svedarsky.
“The Cabela’s Company is pleased to provide this award in recognition of the important role that hunting and fishing have played in the development and maintenance of our conservation heritage in America,” says David Lueth, manager of the Cabela’s store located in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. The $500 award honors an outstanding student at UMC who displays significant potential to contribute to the field. Recipients must have at least a 3.00 GPA, be of senior status, and complete an essay on the role of hunting and fishing in conservation.
Weber was selected in the spring of 2001 to the student career employee program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). This leads to a permanent career with that agency after summer internships at different field sites. Weber has begun his first permanent career assignment in the Slayton, Minnesota, office of the NRCS in southwest Minnesota.
In Weber’s award application he states, “The NRCS is an agency that I see becoming increasingly more involved in conservation issues that pertain to wildlife habitat with the provisions of the new Farm Bill. The funding will give private landowners better access to many new and existing program that can enhance or restore wildlife habitat in several ways. Whether by managing soil erosion, developing plans for Conservation Reserve Program plantings, or restoring riparian areas, NRCS’s technical assistance will provide expertise for landowners to carry out practices based on sound science.”
This award adds to other prestigious awards Weber has received. In 2002, he received the state-wide Student Conservation Award from the Minnesota Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society--the first UMC student to receive that top honor. In 2001, he was named the recipient of the Norman Pankratz Conservation Award, which recognizes the top academic and service-oriented conservation student. While at UMC, Weber also served on the Board of the Northwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, an economic development and stewardship initiative for northwest Minnesota, and was active in both the UMC Chapter of The Wildlife Society and the Natural Resources Club.
As and undergraduate, Weber received a University of Minnesota Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant for a land-use planning project. UROP grants are awarded on a competitive basis and are completed under the direction of a coordinating professor, in this case, Dan Svedarsky, professor and program manager of the UMC Natural Resources Department. Svedarsky and Weber jointly authored a paper on the reclamation of gravel pits for wildlife habitat at the state Aggregate Conference held in March. “Dan’s leadership will certainly be missed on our campus and department,” said Svedarsky. “There’s just no substitute for his experience base and level of commitment.”
In addition to water resource management, natural resources students at UMC may choose to major in natural resources law enforcement, park management, natural resources management, or natural resources aviation. For further information contact Dan Svedarsky, professor of natural resources, at 218-281-8129 or check the department web site at:
Posted 06/10/2003