Chantilly, VA – The National Wildlife Federation took its first-ever stand against single-use plastics at its 82nd Annual Meeting that just concluded in Chantilly, Virginia, with NWF affiliates approving a resolution backing local and state limits where appropriate. The Federation also announced the Kate Zimmerman Public Lands Champion Award and Policy Fellowship, presented a series of Conservation Achievement Awards, and elected Bill Houston of Maine to succeed Kathy Hadley as chair of the NWF Board of Directors in 2019.

The Federation is made up of 51 state and territorial affiliate partners, a diverse network that elects key members of NWF’s leadership and sets NWF’s conservation policy priorities each year. Last year, affiliates approved a new strategic plan that continues to guide NWF’s work.

Resolutions Approved

 The resolution against single-use plastics, such as bags, straws and polystyrene foam, cites the growing dangers to marine life from the 150 million metric tons of plastic waste in the ocean today and the 22 million pounds of plastic that flows into the U.S. Great Lakes every year. It backs city, county, or state regulatory bans on single-use plastic items when appropriate.

Affiliates also approved resolutions:

• Asking Congress to create a National Wildlife Corridors System enhancing habitat connectivity and improving native fish, wildlife, and plant movement and include enhancements of wildlife crossing system design and implementation in transportation project design
• Reaffirming NWF’s commitment to sustaining strong state fish and wildlife agencies by enhancing their ability to address 21st-century wildlife management challenges and opportunities with increased and broadened funding 
• Opposing imprudent “energy dominance” policies and calling for Congress and federal agencies to implement and fully enforce laws that ensure wildlife, habitat, natural resource, historical, cultural, and recreational values, as well as our stable climate, are protected from harmful energy development practices
• Urging elected officials to provide adequate federal funding for research and the wildlife-responsible development of renewable energy such as distributed solar, onshore and offshore wind, geothermal, and tidal power, as well as a more resilient grid infrastructure 
• Supporting local and state action on cutting climate-disrupting carbon pollution and adapting to the effects of climate change in the face of worsening wildfires and extreme weather events like record-breaking Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria
• Endorsing beaver restoration in western watersheds as a way to restore natural landscapes, waterways and ecosystems while helping to counter climate impacts
• Advising policymakers to adopt land management practices that maximize nature-based carbon storage and minimize emissions
• Asking the Agriculture Department’s Risk Management Agency to coordinate with Natural Resources Conservation Service to reform crop insurance to better support healthy soils, clean water and wildlife habitat and help remove barriers within crop insurance for farmers who want to adopt conservation practices
• Reiterating the Federation’s support for the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and science-based rebuilding plans that consider the entire ecosystem
• Urging Congress and the Interior Secretary to protect Washington state’s Methow River headwaters and Green River Valley in the Cascade Mountains, both of which drain into the Columbia River, by withdrawing its lands from the operation of the General Mining Act of 1872

Kate Zimmerman Public Lands Award and Fellowship 

 Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, announced the creation of two honors in the memory of Kate Zimmerman, NWF’s public lands policy director who passed away in January and whose influence was felt from the Colorado backcountry to the halls of Congress. In her 20-year career with NWF, Kate worked tirelessly to help conserve millions of acres of public lands and an array of wildlife, including mule deer, greater sage-grouse, pronghorns, lynx, elk, cutthroat trout and wolves.

The Kate Zimmerman Public Lands Champion Award will go to a woman who exemplifies leadership in public lands protection, and the Kate Zimmerman Public Lands Policy Fellowship will support the work of a law school student in NWF’s Rocky Mountain Regional Center in Denver. Anyone interested in honoring Kate’s memory can contribute at NWF.org/ZimmermanFellow.

Conservation Achievement Awards

 The National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Awards began in 1966. Since then, the National Wildlife Federation has celebrated individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting wildlife through education, advocacy, communication and on-the-ground conservation. Previous honorees have included former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson and Michelle Obama, as well Sen. John McCain, Robert Redford and Elon Musk.

This year’s NWF Conservation Achievement Awards included:

• Affiliate of the Year: Tennessee Wildlife Federation
• Affiliate Volunteer of the Year: Michelle Blair, Mississippi Wildlife Federation
• Young Leader: Dakin Hewlett, Delaware Nature Society
• Conservation Leadership: Kathy Stephens, South Carolina Wildlife Federation
• Charlie Shaw Conservation Partnership, Affiliate: Dave Chadwick, Montana Wildlife Federation
• Charlie Shaw Conservation Partnership, NWF Staff: Tiffany Woods, National Wildlife Federation

The National Wildlife Federation presented Conservation Achievement Awards to Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Johnny Morris, founder and CEO of Bass Pro Shops, at NWF’s America’s Wild Outdoors event in March.

NWF Board of Directors

In addition to naming Bill Houston chair-elect, affiliates elected:

• Central Vice Chair: Mary Van Kerrebrook
• Director, Region 6: Eric Freyfogle
• Director, Region 9: Brian Bashore
• Director, Region 1: Michael Bartlett
• Director, Region 7: Cody Kamrowski
• Director, Region 8: Allyn Dukes
• Director, Region 13: Siva Sundaresan, Ph.D.
• Director, Region 5: Paul Sloan