Newtown Square employees selected for first Director’s Awards

Newtown Square, Pa. — One individual and one staff group recently received the first Director’s Awards presented at the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry headquarters here.

Rising Sun resident Alan Zentz, of the Cooperative Fire Management staff, and the members of the Grants Administration staff – Joanne Fuss, Linda Haenn, Zaneta Hammond, Terri Lopez, Richard Marino, Lois Tulino, and group leader Kathy Duran – gained recognition for their performance.  Kathryn Maloney, NA S&PF Director, presented the awards in a brief ceremony.

“I established (this) series of special awards to recognize outstanding work by NA employees demonstrating dedication in supporting the Northeastern Area in meeting its goals,” Maloney said. “Each of the awards is based on substantiated and documented accomplishment.”

Anyone in the Area could nominate someone for the award. Supervisors forwarded the nominations to an awards committee, which then passed its recommendations to her, Maloney said.

Zentz was recognized for his work in disaster relief. He took on two separate assignments with the Federal Emergency Management Agency during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, during which his knowledge of USDA Forest Service resource capabilities in disaster situations were used to support FEMA and the overall federal response. Zentz also recently participated in an after action review conducted by the USDAFS, the results of which will be used to facilitate smoother response and recovery efforts of the USDAFS in the future.

“I am honored and humbled at the same time, to be selected to receive this award and to be recognized for my efforts," Zentz said. “I’m very proud of the fact that I was able to assist in the response and recovery efforts during the time when the Gulf Coast was so significantly impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

The staff handled more than $90 million in financial assistance to state forestry agencies and other partners in the form of grants in FY 05. The Grants Administration staff processes grant awards, and monitors reporting and other matters, working closely with state and private partners.

“The Grants Administration staff has made a big difference in processing new awards, monitoring active agreements, and providing timely closeout of expired agreements,” Maloney said. “They also initiated a training program in response to customer’s requests to help them better understand how to manage their Federal funds.”

The grantee training program was developed in response to a request from the State Foresters and their customers serviced by NA S&PF.   The Grants Administration staff facilitated four training sessions during FY 05, training more than three hundred state partners, other cooperators, and Forest Service staff.

The NA S&PF serves state forestry offices and private forest landowners in the 20 Northeastern and Midwestern states and Washington, D.C., with a variety of federal programs for forest management, forest health and fire management. The 20 states served by the NA S&PF include 43% of the nation’s population and 25% of the nation’s forests, of which 93% are non-federally owned.

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