WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 5, 2007) - Six installations, one team and one individual have been declared winners in the fiscal 2006 Secretary of the Army Environmental Awards. The awards honor the Army's top programs in endangered species protection, historic preservation, waste reduction, environmental cleanup and pollution prevention.

Installation winners are Fort Lewis, Wash., Fort Drum, N.Y., Fort Riley, Kan., Letterkenny Army Depot, Pa., Camp Edwards Training Site, Mass., and U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, Germany. The team award went to Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Va., and Karstin Carmany-George of the Indiana National Guard took the individual award.

"The Army is a good steward of the environment, and we are committed to the long-term sustainability of the natural resources in our care," said Tad Davis, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for the environment, safety and occupational health.

"As the winners of our environmental awards so aptly demonstrate, the Army uses innovation, dedication and hard work to achieve a successful interaction of our military mission with sound environmental stewardship and community involvement," Davis said.

Fort Lewis won the award in the Pollution Prevention, Non-industrial Installation category for reusing lumber and other resources from building deconstruction to make improvements to training facilities. The program offers a model for others to follow, said awards-panel judge Bob Donaghue.

"The Army, particularly the Fort Lewis comprehensive deconstruction program, is pioneering a money-saving idea that is transferable across both the private and public sectors," said Donaghue, director of the Pollution Prevention Assistance Division in the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Radford Army Ammunition Plant, one of the Army's main TNT production facilities, won the award for Pollution Prevention Team. Carmany-George took the Cultural Resources Management, Individual category by using technology to manage and preserve cultural resources and support the building of a state-of-the-art urban training complex.

The Army National Guard at Camp Edwards Training Site won the Natural Resources Conservation, Large Installation award for its robust training program that benefits 11 natural plant and animal communities.

The U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr won the award for Environmental Quality, Overseas Installation, in part for its efforts to give Soldiers more room to train.

"This project demonstrates that the innovative use of science can allow high-impact training activities to be conducted in harmony with a high-quality natural environment," said Tom Easterly, judge and commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

Letterkenny Army Depot won the Environmental Quality, Industrial Installation award by applying lean manufacturing methods as it delivered almost 900 reinforced armor Humvee-door kits to Soldiers in Iraq.

To win the Cultural Resources Management, Installation award, the Fort Drum cultural-resources staff constructed mock Muslim cemeteries and archeological sites for use as aerial gunnery avoidance target training.

The Fort Riley environmental staff helped make land available for a Tactical Unmanned Aerial System operational area, earning the Environmental Restoration, Installation award.

Winners of the Secretary of the Army awards go on to compete for the Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards.