Upper St. Johns River Basin Project receives Thiess Riverprize Award
11/09/2009
Daily Record (Jacksonville)
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A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District project that was formally awarded the Australian-based International Riverfoundation’s Thiess Riverprize Award in 2008 was recently presented the honors accompanying trophy in a ceremony held at its Jacksonville district headquarters.
Maurice Sterling, project management director of the St. Johns River Water Management District and local project sponsor, presented the award.
“This award is one the team can be extraordinarily proud of. This is more than three decades in our partnership history and is a case of the government doing something right,” said Sterling. “There were speed bumps along the way but we were able to iron them out and come out with a good product for our partnership.”
Lt. Col. Nathaniel Rainey, deputy district commander, received the award on behalf of the district team and said he felt as if he had just won the Super Bowl. “This is a really special award,” said Rainey. “We are so proud of the relationship with the St. Johns River Water Management District.
“The St. Johns is our river, it supports our community and we live in its basin, which is part of our geography. This project demonstrates partnerships and teamwork at its best.”
According to Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield of Australia’s University of Queensl and chair of the Riverprize judging panel, the St. Johns River Basin Project is a large wetlands restoration initiative that addresses environmental degradation and flood damage reduction in the headwaters region of the St. Johns River. One of the largest river restoration projects in the United States, the project uses innovative approaches in design and management to combine environmental benefits with flood damage reduction over 60 kilometers of river length and thousands of acres of floodplain. It covers a total of 247 square miles. The project was based on a nonstructural approach to flood management instead of an artificial system of dikes and dams.
It was the first project in the nation with Corps involvement that was described by law as a nonstructural flood control project.
“The Everglades may be the largest ecosystem project, but the Upper St. Johns River Basin Project was, at least, one of the largest environmental projects we completed,” said Steven Robinson, project manager from 1997-2004. “It is one of the projects I am most proud of having been a part of.”
Robinson also said the team comingled environmental restoration with flood reduction engineering and produced a project that works as much for the environment as it does for the engineered science and technology for which it was designed.
Sterling said the $222,000 Riverprize is the largest privately-funded money prize in the world, given to recognize innovative river management. Received by the water management district, the prize was used to complete wetlands restoration and the river cleanup programs throughout Northeast and Eastern Central Florida.
The International Thiess Riverprize began as an initiative in 1999 to award best management practices for the restoration and sustainable preservation of rivers and waterways, and has to date awarded more than $2 million to support ongoing river restoration work.
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