FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 1, 2015
GOVERNOR, CABINET HONOR
NATURAL RESOURCE
MANAGERS OF THE YEAR
~Award recognizes commitment to Florida’s
environment~
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Governor Rick Scott and
the Florida Cabinet today honored Samantha McGee, park biologist of St.
Sebastian River Preserve State Park, as one of three top Florida resource
managers of the year for her commitment to the park’s habitat restoration and
stewardship of state lands. Recipients are selected by a committee of
environmental professionals representing the Sierra Club, Florida Audubon
Society and The Nature Conservancy.
“I’m proud to recognize Samantha McGee as one
of Florida’s top resource managers,” said Donald Forgione, director of the
Florida Park Service. “She is dedicated to restoring and protecting the 22,000
acres of St. Sebastian River Preserve.”
Ms. Samantha “Sammy” McGee has served as a park
biologist at St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park since 2004. Ms. McGee
demonstrates her commitment to preserving the park’s resources every day
through habitat restoration, prescribed fire, and removal of invasive and
exotic plants and animals. She has worked with five organizations to write and
manage nearly $1 million in grants to restore scrub habitat, remove exotic
plants, improve habitat for gopher tortoises and restore more than 10,000 acres
of pine flatwoods. Ms. McGee is also active in the Southern Range Translocation
Cooperative to advance monitoring and survival of red-cockaded woodpeckers,
along with Florida scrub-jay, brown-headed nuthatch and carnivorous pitcher
plants at the park.
This prestigious environmental honor is bestowed
annually to a natural resource manager from DEP, the Department of Agriculture
and Consumer Service’s Florida Forest Service, and the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission. The other award recipients were Cathy
Lowenstein, forest resource administrator for the Florida Forest Service and
Jean McCollum, land manager for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission.
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