The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Gary Larsen was recognized for his efforts in support of natural resources on Department of Defense lands.
Larsen, an operations manager at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory’s Alaska Research Office in Fairbanks, received the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association (NMFWA) Lifetime Achievement Award at the association’s conference in Spokane, Washington, March 8.
His selection letter cited a standard of excellence over his 25 years of service to the Army, emphasizing environmental stewardship while sustaining training lands to support the military mission.
According to the NMFWA award announcement, “Larsen pioneered the Army’s Integrated Training Area Management program, implementing two of the very best ITAM programs on Army lands, serving for six years on the ITAM Installation Steering Committee, and representing installation managers on the Army Chief of Staff Installation Management’s Conservation Technology Team. He was responsible for natural and cultural resources, including ITAM, and conservation enforcement programs on 1.6 million acres on Forts Wainwright, Richardson and Greely. His ITAM program was designated a model Army program, and his programs won first place in the Army competition for natural resources in 2000 and cultural resources in 2003.”
The ITAM Program is a core element of the Army’s Sustainable Range Program. The primary objective of ITAM is to ensure that all Army training lands are available for sustained perpetual use by providing a comprehensive approach to land management and is based on the integration of the military mission, natural resources stewardship, and environmental compliance.
Larsen joined CRREL’s Engineering Resources Branch in Alaska in 2015. The Engineering Resources Branch conceives, plans, and coordinates with customers to address cold regions engineering challenges requiring physical modeling, in situ measurements, or equipment development into appropriate, cost effective solutions and executes multi-disciplinary research and investigation in cold regions engineering.
The Fairbanks, Alaska, resident earned a bachelor’s and a master’s in forestry from Michigan Technological University. Larsen is a member of the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association and a representative of the Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative.
The NMFWA is a non-profit organization of professional resource managers working to protect and manage wildlife and other natural resources on DOD lands.