Peggy Olwell Receives IAE’s 2013 Ecological Conservation Award

by Tom Kaye — last modified Jul 30, 2013

Peggy Olwell Receives IAE’s 2013 Ecological Conservation Award

The Institute for Applied Ecology presented Peggy Olwell, Plant Conservation Program Manager for the Bureau of Land Management, with its 2013 Ecological Conservation Award in recognition of her outstanding and ceaseless effort to conserve native vegetation on public lands. Since 2000, Olwell has been at the forefront of a national charge to develop native plants for use on public lands for reclamation after devastating fires and habitat restoration for endangered species and plant communities. She has designed and taught courses on rare plant recovery and native plant restoration, coordinated the Seeds of Success Program from its initiation with the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and leads the Plant Conservation Alliance.

Olwell’s support and oversight for the Conservation and Land Management Intern Program with the Chicago Botanic Garden has helped to shape the careers of hundreds of people through paid internships conducting conservation work on-the-ground on federal lands. Rob Fiegener and Tom Kaye presented her with the award April 11, 2013 at the closing ceremony of the Second National Native Seed Conference in Santa Fe, NM.