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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RUSSELL E. TRAIN, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS OF THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND, TO RECEIVE BOTANICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TEXAS' 2006 INTERNATIONAL AWARD OF EXCELLENCE IN CONSERVATION ON FEBRUARY 9, 2006 FORT WORTH, TX, February 1, 2006 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Russell E. Train, environmental statesman, author, and founding trustee and chairman emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund, will receive the Botanical Research Institute of Texas' (BRIT) 2006 International Award of Excellence in Conservation on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006, here at a dinner, which approximately 600 people are expected to attend. Business leader and philanthropist Edward P. Bass, a vice chair of BRIT's board of trustees, said, "Russell Train has been the second most important mentor in my life in terms of teaching me about conservation - the first is my father." Mr. Bass also serves as vice chair of the board of directors of the World Wildlife Fund and a vice chair of the board of managers of the New York Botanical Garden. For information about Mr. Train and the award dinner, call 817.332.4441, ext. 15, or visit www.brit.org. Mr. Train's 50 years of work on behalf of the world's wildlife stems from the safaris that he took to East Africa in the late 1950s. He returned a champion of the wildlife conservation cause, taking leadership positions with several organizations. He founded the Wildlife Leadership Foundation (1959) in order to establish effective wildlife parks and reserves. In 1961 he founded the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and was a founding trustee of the World Wildlife Fund-US. He was chairman of the AWF from 1961 to 1969. He became president of the Conservation Foundation (1965), which works to increase environmental awareness in federal policy-making process. Mr. Train was the first chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (1970). From 1973 to 1977 he served under Presidents Nixon and Ford as the second administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He is the author of Politics, Pollution, and Pandas, An Environmental Memoir. He has received numerous awards for his work. President George H. W. Bush presented Mr. Train with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. His other awards include the Albert Schweitzer Medal of the Animal Welfare Institute, Aldo Leopold Medal of the Wildlife Society, Conservationist of the Year of the National Wildlife Federation in 1974 and 1988, the John and Alice Tyler Ecology Award, Public Service Medal of the National Academy of Science, the Elizabeth Haub Prize in international environmental law, the Lindbergh Award, Environmental Law Institute Award, the Heinz Family Foundation Chairman's Medal, the Keystone Center Leadership Award, and the Order of the Golden Ark (Netherlands). He has received numerous honorary degrees. About BRIT and the Award Founded in 1991 and open to the public, BRIT is a nonprofit international botanical resource center serving researchers in the fields of medicine, agriculture, and conservation. A collection of approximately one million dried plant specimens representing most of the earth's plant families, BRIT's herbarium is one of the largest in the United States and the largest independent herbarium in the Southwest. It includes one of the world's best collections of Texas plant specimens. BRIT's botanical library houses more than 75,000 volumes of books, periodicals, and journals from more than 90 countries. Created in 1995, the award is presented annually to an individual or organization that exemplifies the ideals expressed in BRIT's mission: to conserve our natural heritage by deepening our knowledge of the plant world and achieving public understanding of the value that plants bring to life. Previous award recipients: Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, lieutenant governor of Arkansas; writer John Graves; David Bramwell, Ph.D., director of Jardín Botánico Canario, Canary Islands; Samuel A. Cooke, Hawaiian conservationist; the Honorable Juan Carlos Navarro, Mayor of Panama City, Panama; Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission; Jane Goodall, renowned chimpanzee researcher; Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance, Ph.D., former director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England; Mrs. Lyndon Baines (Lady Bird) Johnson; the Honorable José María Figueres, former president of the Republic of Costa Rica; Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D., of Harvard University, plant explorer; and Cyrus Longworth Lundell, Ph.D., botanist. Source: Botanical Research Institute of Texas www.brit.org CONTACT: Annette Gunter 817.332.4441 (ext. 15) agunter@brit.org Botanical Research Institute of Texas 509 Pecan Street Fort Worth, Texas 76102-4060 |
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