Two honored for their work to protect Colorado’s water quality
Jane Clary was recently named person of the year by Green Industries of Colorado (GreenCO), an alliance of eight trade associations in the plant and landscape industry.
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| Jane Clary |
A senior water resources scientist with Denver-based Wright Water Engineers, Clary has worked with the alliance since 2001 to develop the GreenCO Water Conservation and Water Quality Best Management Practices (BMP) manual, and most recently led the BMP revision project. (See GreenCO’s BMP expansion project promotes water conservation, water resources protection and sustainability.) She has also taught BMP classes for GreenCO, and helped promote BMPs and GreenCO's work.
“Jane has been instrumental in keeping the BMP process focused, inclusive and on budget,” said Sharon Harris, executive director of the Colorado Nursery and Greenhouse Assoc. “Her commitment to not only the process but the philosophy, vision and the end result of the BMPs is incomparable.”
Alison Peck, of Matrix Gardens, in Boulder, agrees, “The BMPs wouldn’t be what they are without Jane. She has been incredibly organized and focused, stewarding the BMPs along. She is especially good at encompassing a wide variety of perspectives very respectfully, and is a wealth of information on low impact development and water conservation.”
Clary, who at one time worked as a white water raft guide on the Eagle and Colorado rivers, is an environmental scientist. She has experience in watershed management, water quality protection and evaluation, database management, water quality data analysis, stormwater management, water resources management, water conservation and water/wastewater master planning.
“I really do have a passion for the natural environment,” said Clary, who has a master’s in environmental science from the University of Colorado and is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professional.
Clary played a key role in developing the Denver Water Quality Management Plan, updating the Denver Storm Drainage and Technical Criteria Manual, helping to develop and manage the International Stormwater BMP Database and updates to the Urban Storm Drainage Criteria Manual.
She also served as watershed coordinator for the Big Dry Creek Watershed Assoc. for more than 10 years, working with cities and counties to better understand and protect water quality. She has worked with the Keep it Clean Partnership in the Boulder area to identify barriers to low impact development, which emphasizes the valuable role of landscaping in stormwater management.
“Jane had the vision of where the green industry needs to go, in terms of sustainability and landscape practices. And she had the ability to make the vision easy to understand and to turn it into practical applications,” said GreenCO project manager Brenda O’Brien. “She went above and beyond to deliver the product. Her level of research, her knowledge, her professionalism and her integrity helped us create a BMP manual that doesn’t sit on the shelf. It gets used.”
According to Clary, “The green industry is in a unique position. It gets to be creative and innovative, leading the way toward sustainability. The people I’ve worked with on the BMPs had synergy and momentum for doing what’s good for their business and the environment.”
Trout Unlimited names conservationist of the year
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| Ed Rapp |
Ed Rapp was honored as Colorado Trout Unlimited’s Conservationist of the Year in April.
“Without Ed, Clear Creek’s present fishery would probably not exist,” said Miles Williams, a member of the Clear Creek Watershed Foundation board of directors.
Since retiring as comptroller and director of resources for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rapp has held a number of leadership roles directed at reclaiming and providing a long-term, comprehensive framework for the sustainability of the Clear Creek Watershed.
As a Clear Creek County commissioner and concerned citizen, he was an influential force in the early 1990s in getting the newly established Clear Creek/Central City Superfund study area placed on the national priority list for remediation of mining-related water quality problems.
Dissatisfied with the pace of work, stakeholder involvement, and lack of comprehensive scope of federal and state response, Rapp pushed for the Clear Creek Watershed Forum, the stakeholder constituency formed in 1991 to create a culture of cooperation.
Rapp has led additional efforts to successfully forge other organizations that play a key role in the renaissance of Clear Creek, including the Clear Creek Watershed Foundation, where Rapp continues to volunteer as president.
Since 2004, Rapp has supplemented the foundation’s historical emphasis on water quality issues with a broadened, more holistic agenda, and in 2006 the foundation won a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Priorities Grant to look at Clear Creek basin within a broader context of ecological, economic and social perspectives, with an eye to sustainability.
His work with the foundation brought EPA recognition to the basin as a “targeted watershed.” The foundation is often cited by EPA and the U. S. Forest Service as an exemplary program, and frequently used as a template for others in the Mountain West looking to establish a comparable Good Samaritan entity.
Rapp is also active in influencing the Colorado Department of Transportation planning for future Interstate 70 work.