Bismark Residents Receive National Sierra Club Award

SAN FRANCISCO – Sept. 23, 2000 – Three Bismark residents were among those receiving national awards from the Sierra Club this year.

Jan Swenson, Gary Raedeke and Diane Warner received a Special Service Award for their conservation work and leadership of the Club’s Teddy Roosevelt Group. The trio was cited for their work on influencing the wildlands-protection content of the revised management plans for the National Grasslands of western North Dakota and for obtaining mineral exchanges to prevent oil and gas development in roadless areas.

They also were commended for their work toward preservation of the free-flowing and wild characteristics of the Missouri River’s Garrison Reach. Their work led to a moratorium on additional rock riprapping, a programmatic environmental impact study and the formation of the Missouri River Coordinated Resource Management Program (CRMP). The CRMP is proposing a comprehensive plan for the Garrison Reach which includes setbacks for riverside home building.

"Because of the leadership by Jan, Gary and Diane, the Teddy Roosevelt Group has become the most effective Sierra Club group in both Dakotas," said Dexter Perkins, conservation chair of the Dacotah Chapter of the Sierra Club. "They have shown the people of North Dakota, and especially of the Bismark area, that people can speak up and demand protection for the environment, and that individuals can make a difference."

Swenson serves as chair of the Teddy Roosevelt Group and Raedeke serves as vice chair. Warner is the group’s secretary.

The Sierra Club, which was founded in 1892 by John Muir, is the country’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. It currently has more than 600,000 members. For more information on the Teddy Roosevelt Group of the Sierra Club, write them at P.O. Box 776, Mandan ND 58554.