USU's Jack Schmidt Receives Top National Park Service Award

The Snake River, the Rio Grande, the mighty Colorado River. All flow through iconic national parks of the American West and each is a critical source of power and water for millions of people. Our farms, ranches and burgeoning communities can’t survive without these resources. But can these breathtakingly scenic rivers survive our insatiable demands? 

 

“We want it all but we can’t have it all,” says Utah State University professor Jack Schmidt.

 

Schmidt, who has studied major rivers of western North America for more than 20 years and made key recommendations for their management to federal agencies, is a 2010 recipient of the National Park Service’s highest honor. A member of USU’s Department of Watershed Science faculty, Schmidt is among eight people selected from across the nation for the NPS Director’s Award. He is honored in the category of Natural Resource Research.

 

“(This year’s award recipients) have dedicated themselves to the restoration and maintenance of this nation’s natural heritage,” said NPS director Jonathan Jarvis in a recent statement. 

 

“Throughout his long body of work in Intermountain Region parks, Schmidt has demonstrated outstanding collaboration, interaction and dialogue with educational institutions and agencies, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service and the Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network,” said Michael D. Snyder, regional director of the NPS Intermountain Region, who presented Schmidt with a regional award in January 2010 and nominated the USU researcher for the national honor.

 

“Jack Schmidt is a world-class scientist whose work has had a tremendous positive impact on the health of Western streams,” says Nat Frazer, dean of USU’s College of Natural Resources. “He and his students are well known throughout the Intermountain West for their successful efforts in river restoration. We’re fortunate to have a scientist of his caliber teaching and conducting research here at USU.”

 

Schmidt, who serves as director of Water@USU and the USU-based Intermountain Center for River Rehabilitation and Restoration, says the award is a testament to the hard work of his past and current students.

 

“It’s recognition of their thesis research, efforts to move that research forward to publication, their contributions to professional meetings and work in cooperation with NPS staff to make that research relevant to ongoing management decisions,” he says. “This award also recognizes the support of the NPS as a partner with whom we pursue our applied river research.”

 

Among his many projects throughout the American West, Schmidt has developed and guided studies and management plans for the upper Snake River in Grand Teton National Park, the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park along the U.S. and Mexico border as well as the Colorado River and its major tributaries within Grand Canyon National Park and Dinosaur National Monument.

 

World-renowned for his research on the Colorado River system, Schmidt has been instrumental in planning and designing efforts to protect downstream resources in Grand Canyon National Park, including the 1996, 2004, and 2008 Glen Canyon Dam high flow experiments. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently announced plans for a comprehensive science program that builds on the experience gained and the data collected from these experiments and paves the way for continued controlled dam releases. Schmidt is leading efforts to summarize and synthesize the work of scores of Grand Canyon river scientists concerning these high flow experiments and make recommendations for future management and high flow releases.

 

Schmidt is also involved as a science advisor in efforts between the U.S. and Mexico to bolster preservation of Big Bend National Park and Mexico’s bordering areas of Maderas del Carmen, Cañon de Santa Elena, Ocampo and Río Bravo del Norte. In a joint statement issued May 19, 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón expressed their commitment to work through appropriate national processes to recognize and designate Big Bend – Rio Bravo as a natural area of binational interest. 

 

“Through the years, my students and our NPS partners have greatly contributed to understanding the great rivers of the American West and how we manage them,” Schmidt says. “It is a privilege for all of us to have the opportunity to work in such spectacular riverscapes.”

 

Schmidt will formally receive the award in a ceremony to be announced at a later date. 

 

 

Contact: John C. “Jack” Schmidt, 435-797-1791, jack.schmidt@usu.edu