Rowley's Ruth Alexander Receives Prestigious Gulf of Maine Volunteer Award

December 9, 1999
Contact: Andrea Cooper
(978) 281-3972

Ruth Batchelder Alexander received the prestigious Art Longard Award today for her decades of volunteer service on behalf of the North Shore's Great Marsh, which is the largest contiguous salt marsh north of Long Island, New York. The award, given by the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, recognizes the outstanding contribution of an individual who, through volunteer efforts, has served to protect and enhance the environmental quality of the Gulf of Maine, which extends from the Bay of Fundy through Cape Cod Bay. Alexander was unanimously selected from a host of candidates from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

"To me, it is so important that something is being done for the Great Marsh. I am so pleased to be able to be a part of this initiative and am very honored to receive this award," said Alexander.

"I'm thrilled that this tremendous honor goes to our very own Ruth Alexander," said Bob Durand, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and member of the Gulf of Maine Council. "Through her dedication and commitment to protecting the Great Marsh, Ruth has single-handedly made a remarkable difference, bringing people from government and the environmental community together to take concrete actions to protect and preserve this critical environmental resource."

Alexander, a long-time Rowley resident, has been interested in the Great Marsh since she was a small child. Growing up, she spent hours with her family harvesting salt marsh hay at their summer camp. A photograph of her standing high on a ladder atop a mountain of marsh hay is on display at the Rowley train depot, serving as a reminder of the value of this environmental and economic resource.

Over the years, Alexander has been involved with countless initiatives, including establishing a major regional trail system, brokering land deals between the state and local owners to protect land areas critical to the Great Marsh, working with local farmers to obtain agricultural preservation restrictions, and serving as a local cartographer, providing towns with accurate hand-drawn maps of the Great Marsh and other critical local and regional natural resource features.

At 95, Alexander's hard work continues unabated. She inspired the development of a collaborative team approach to protecting the Great Marsh, which was initiated with a day-long "Great Marsh Summit" in 1996. Ruth developed the idea of a Summit as a forum for local, state, and federal staff and members of conservation organizations to collectively produce an action plan for land protection, marsh restoration, water quality improvement, and fisheries restoration. As a result, four teams were formed to implement this action plan, which continues to be the blueprint of the Great Marsh initiative. These teams are still actively working, and on December 3 of this year, they came together to discuss issues and strategies to protect the Marsh in the new Millennium.

Since the Great Marsh Summit in 1996, much progress has been made: more than a thousand acres important to the Marsh have been acquired or secured by conservation restrictions, practices that reduce contaminants in storm water and agricultural runoff are used in all five Marsh communities, culverts are being replaced to improve tidal flow to salt marsh areas, fish passages are being repaired to allow the return of historic herring runs, and working farms have been preserved and spared from development.

"Ruth is an incredible source of vision, innovation, spirit, and motivation in her unceasing efforts to protect this unique North Shore ecosystem," said Tom Skinner, Director of Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (MCZM). "We at MCZM were proud to nominate her for this award, just as we are proud to be able to work with such a extraordinary woman."

"Ruth is absolutely amazing to work with and continues to contribute to the Great Marsh as a team member, as the true inspiration for the initiative, and as a mentor for continuing achievements into the new century," said Andrea Cooper, MCZM North Shore Regional Coordinator. "She could not be more deserving of this award."

The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment was established in 1989 to foster cross-border cooperation among government, academic, and private groups on issues that affect the Gulf, which extends from Nantucket to Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. Its mission is to maintain and enhance environmental quality in the Gulf of Maine to allow for sustainable resource use by existing and future generations. Public and private representatives from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia oversee the Gulf of Maine Council Program and its activities in marine monitoring, habitat protection, public education, and pollution prevention. In honor of its 10-year anniversary, the Council is proclaiming 2000 as the year of the Gulf of Maine.