Tracy Neal has fostered an awareness of stewardship for the Federal Lands through a volunteer program that has grown substantially since her arrival to the field office at New Melones Lake in Sonora, California. She has developed a core of nearly 100 volunteers including Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, local bicycling clubs, camp hosts, and individual volunteers with no group affiliation. This cadre of volunteers donates their time maintaining trails, building mussel monitoring traps, collecting trash in the campgrounds, watering newly planted trees, working as receptionists in the Visitors Center, assisting with interpretive programs, and anything else that may arise. During National Public Lands Day, Tracy helped coordinate volunteers to groom over two miles of trail in the Tuttletown Recreation Area and gather over 30 fifty-gallon bags of trash along the shoreline. These volunteers worked to not only improve the quality of these lands, but also assists with the protection of the environment around New Melones Lake.

FEDERAL LAND MANAGER – Bureau of Reclamation – Tracy Neal

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner, Mike Connor, Deputy Secretary of the Interior, David Hayes, accepting the award, Tracy Neal, joining her, Director of Take Pride in America, Lisa Young.