Ellen Jacquart Wins NAA Stewardship Award
The Natural Areas Association (NAA) has announced its award recipients who demonstrate the highest standards of leadership and achievement in the natural area profession. Our own Ellen Jacquart is the 2022 winner of their Carl N. Becker Stewardship Award, which recognizes excellence and achievement in managing the natural resources of reserves, parks, wilderness, and other protected areas.
Ellen Jacquart, president of the Indiana Native Plant Society, recently retired after an impressive 40-year Natural Areas preservation and management career.
Early in her career, Jacquart spearheaded the creation of the Central Indiana Land Trust in 1990, which has protected more than 6,500 acres of Natural Areas.
Additionally, at a time when there wasn’t a source for certain species of native plants for restoration projects at the Hoosier National Forest, Jacquart led efforts to create a native plant nursery, and seeds from that project continue to support Indiana’s Natural Areas today.
The Natural Areas Association (NAA) serves scientists and practitioners focused on the management of ecologically significant natural landscapes with the intent to protect biodiversity for current and future generations. Protecting nature requires quality science to inform practices on-the-ground and access to reliable resources that can advance the conservation and stewardship of land and water biodiversity. NAA curates and shares relevant and timely programs and resources with practitioners responsible for the ecological resilience and protection of natural areas in perpetuity.
We are proud that Ellen has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to the field.