The Izaak Walton League of America, a national leader in community-based conservation, presented Phyllis Green of Houghton, Mich., with its prestigious Honor Roll Award. Green received the award at the League’s July annual convention in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the conservation of America’s natural and renewable resources.
As superintendent of Isle Royale National Park in Michigan, Phyllis Green is leading National Park Service efforts to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species via ballast water. When news sources disclosed the presence of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) – a deadly fish virus and an invasive species – in the eastern Great Lakes and associated fish kills, Green declared the Isle Royale near shore a “no dumping” zone for ballast water.
To find a permanent solution to the problem of aquatic invasives brought into the Great Lakes via ballast water, Green worked with Michigan Technological University professor Dr. David Hand and others to first develop a ballast water treatment system on two National Park Service vessels. The team succeeded in ship modifications that enabled effective treatment of ballast on ships that carry passengers to and from Isle Royale National Park. Then Green worked with a naval architect to scale up this ballast water treatment system to modify a class of 1,000-foot lakers.
However, proving that it can be done is just part of the battle. Green is now working with the shipping industry to encourage immediate voluntary implementation of ballast water treatment. Green has also worked with grassroots groups and national experts to find other solutions that are fast and easy to implement.
“Phyllis Green has exhibited extraordinary courage, initiative, and innovative problem solving,” says Izaak Walton League past president Dave Zentner. “The results of her initiatives will help us make progress on all aquatic invasive species. She exemplifies the best in the term ‘public servant.’”
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