STEW JACOBSON, Outdoor Recreation Planner of the Bureau of Land Management’s Utah State Office has been named the Outstanding Public Land Professional for 1995 by the Public Lands Foundation.

Foundation President George Lea announced the selection crediting Jacobson with outstanding and relentless dedication to providing Bureauwide leadership to the “Leave-No-Trace / Tread Lightly” program.  Were it not for Stew’s willingness to take chances, Leave-No-Trace would simply be a good idea looking for support and not the vital organization that it is.

“Stew put his career on the line while exhibiting great patience and professionalism in gaining authorization for a private grant to get Leave-No-Trace up and running,” Lea said.  This has not been easy.  Stew has shown exemplary courage and risk-taking in order to get the program off the ground.  Today, Leave-No-Trace is incorporated and has gained the support of such organizations as the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and both the Girl and Boy Scouts of America.

Stew Jacobson knew the beginning years for Tread-Lightly were very critical as a federal program has never before been privatized.  With his vision, Stew steered the program in achieving its mission of educating current users and the future generations to come on how to responsibily use public and private lands.  “Stew has been instrumental in writing curriculum, managing projects, and teaching environmental ethics to recreationists across the country,” Lea said.

“This is another example of a professional career employee’s willingness to chart new directions in protecting natural resources,” Lea added, “and all to often the public does not appreciate the contributions many thousands of hard-working federal career employees make in protecting and managing the public lands.  We hope this recognition of Stew’s work will help the real owners of these lands better understand and appreciate the high ideals and integrity that BLM employees bring to this difficult task each day.  We want the public to know how lucky they are to have employees like Stew.”