FORT STEWART, Ga. - For their dedication to the environment and continued support to the installation, the Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield's Directorate of Public Works was recognized with the Secretary of the Army Environmental Award, May 17.
Gregory Kuhr, Senior Executive Service, Installation Management Command Headquarters, honored DPW with the SoA Award during his tour of the installation.
"[The award] was from the Secretary of the Army, which is really cool," said DPW Director Robert Baumgardt. "It was for restoration. We have a bunch of sites that were polluted in the past, [which] were identified. Over the past years, we have been restoring those sites to its natural habitat and fixing the wrongs of the past so that everything is environmentally compliant. We had over 100 sites that were contaminated, that needed fixing. We have gotten that down to a very low number. So, the [SoA] recognized us for that, which was a great honor to have."
Baumgardt explained that the polluted sites were contaminated with various pollutants like oil products or asbestos. By restoring these sites, he said that it makes it environmentally compliant for both the Soldiers and endangered species.
"We are in charge of beings stewards to the environment," he said. "We take that very seriously because we need to be able to train at Fort Stewart, which means we have to do that in concert with the environment. We just can't train here and forget about everything else because we want to be sustainable for the long term. We are always worried about our endangered species here. Actually, they thrive here because we take so much care of them. We almost have no restrictions for the war fighter to [conduct] training, so there has to be a symbiosis of what we do and what the environment needs. We try to achieve that. We have a whole section that is dedicated in doing that, and they do a really good job."
This is not the first time DPW has been recognized for environmental excellence and achievement. The DPW team was honored with the same award in the past.
"It just means that we are continuing to do the good work that we are doing," said Baumgardt. "More importantly, we are always trying to find ways to take it to the next level. Just because we are doing good today doesn't mean that we're doing as good as we can do. So, we look at it as 'what is the next step that we can take,' 'how can we make this just a little bit better, a little more efficient for the environment, the Army and for the Soldiers who train here?'"
Kuhr's visit of the installation included the Recycling Center, Central Energy Plant, and both the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team's and 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team's areas.
For Tressa Rutland, chief of DPWs' Prevention and Compliance Branch of the Environmental Division, receiving the SoA Award is an honor.
"[For DPW to receive the award] is wonderful," she said. "The competition is very steep. The honor really is recognition that we are doing a good job of being stewards to our environment. We're not only doing this for Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, but we're doing it for the local community as well."
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