Olaus Murie Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions

This award recognizes longstanding service to Alaska environmental concerns. These individuals have influenced local, regional, statewide and national environmental issues through their professional careers. Appropriate candidates have worked full time for a non-profit private or public agency or organization responsible for the environment, are skillful at working with people, use technical knowledge, personal influence, and have the ability to make changes to improve the environment. This award is named for Olaus Murie, a wildlife biologist who spent many years in Alaska's wild places as an employee of the Department of Interior. The award winner will have the opportunity to recommend a grant to the organization of their choice.

2008 Award Recipient

Jim Stratton of Anchorage, Alaska

Jim Stratton has been the Alaska Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association since December 2002.  Prior to that time, Jim spent eight years as the director of the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and 11 years as the Program & Finance Director for Alaska Conservation Foundation. He started his Alaska conservation career in 1981 as the Executive Director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.  Jim is a founding board member of Training Resources for the Environmental Community (TREC) and was the founding Board Chair of Alaska Community Share, Alaska’s first statewide alternative workplace giving organization.  He is currently Board Chair of the Great Land Trust and sits on the advisory board for the Brainerd Foundation. In his spare time, he produces and hosts the Arctic Cactus Hour, a weekly public radio music program on Anchorage’s KNBA.  He also enjoys fly fishing, birding, and travel to wild and exotic places  with his wife, Colleen Burgh. Jim holds a degree in Recreation and Parks Management from the University of Oregon and an MBA from Alaska Pacific University.

2007 Award Recipient

Robert “Buck” Lindekugel of Juneau, Alaska

Buck has been the conservation director and staff attorney for the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, located in Juneau, for over 17 years. His passionate work to protect the Tongass National Forest and to empower the citizens of Southeast Alaska is second nature to him. In the words of Buck’s office colleagues, “He is driven by his love of the environment and his belief that all Southeast Alaskans deserve to have their voices heard in land management decisions that affect their way of life.” Buck has been instrumental in various campaigns, strategies, and legal challenges that have protected the Tongass from timber industry attacks. 

2006 Award Recipient

Dr. Victor Van Ballenberghe

Dr. Vic Van Ballenberghe’s career as an Alaskan wildlife biologist, a quarter century, has earned him the respect of peers and policy makers alike. The research biologist has studied moose and wolves across Alaska; served on the Board of Game under two governors; and is an author whose published works have been printed in National Geographic and include the book “In the Company of Moose.”

In his recommendation of Van Ballenberghe for the award senior scientist at Audubon Alaska, John Schoen, Ph.D., said the following, “Dr. Van Ballenberge has consistently been a voice of reason and science in Alaska’s contentious predator management arena…[he] has continued to speak up in a constructive manner in order to broaden the discussion and inject science and broader public interests into the wildlife decision.”

2005 Award Recipient

Fran Mauer

During his 26-year career as a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fran became the voice of Arctic ecology. His love for wild landscapes is paramount, and Fran continues to combine his knowledge with a deep commitment for preserving wilderness values. Fran is currently the Alaska Chapter Representative of Wilderness Watch, a national organization whose focus is the preservation and proper stewardship of lands and rivers already included in the National Wilderness Preservation System and National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

2004 Award Recipients

Kay Brown

While Kay Brown may be best known for her five terms as a popular state legislator, she has since become a key organizer in providing Alaska’s conservation community with a strong voice in Juneau. Kay played a key role in transforming the Alaska Environmental Lobby and the Alaska Environmental Assembly into the Alaska Conservation Alliance and Alaska Conservation Voters. As the first executive director of ACA and ACV, Kay challenged the conservation community to provide a positive vision for Alaska’s future and to base their positions and decisions on good scientific and economic data. Using her political skills, Kay prodded the conservation community to use polling and focus groups to determine how to better connect with average Alaskans, and Alaska Conservation Alliance continues to conduct an annual poll to gage the community’s effectiveness based on Kay’s baseline polling work.

Kay, through her role at Alaska Conservation Voters, spearheaded projects to recruit, train, and elect pro-conservation candidates at the local and state levels throughout Alaska. Since then, the conservation community has won legislative seats in every election, giving the conservation community hope that soon the Alaska legislature will carry a conservation message in their vision of the state’s future. Kay continues her work in galvanizing the progressive community through her business, Conservation Strategies.

Peter Van Tuyn

Peter Van Tuyn is a dedicated conservationist. During his tenure at Trustees for Alaska, Peter used his skills as a lawyer to provide vision and legal support to Alaska’s conservation groups. Peter’s advocacy, either alone or in connection with others, has resulted in many conservation victories. For twelve years, Peter has tirelessly sought to enforce state oil and gas leasing laws. He led the citizen suit against Unocal that resulted in a settlement that funded the beginnings of Cook Inlet Keeper; other litigation resulted in important protection for the Cook Inlet beluga whale population. He was an integral part of the conservation team working to protect the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

As a commercial fisherman as well as lawyer, marine issues have always been important to Peter. He successfully prosecuted NEPA and ESA litigation to protect the Steller Sea Lion from the effects of overfishing and was a founding board member of Alaska Marine Conservation Council. In addition to his conservation achievements, Peter has been a mentor and teacher to dozens of young attorneys and law students at Trustees and at the Vermont Law School. While no longer at Trustees, Peter continues to be an advocate for Alaska through his private practice.