New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Please join the staff, volunteers, and community partners of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in celebrating and recognizing Judy Roderiques for 24 years of dedication and volunteer service.
A variety of National Park Service (NPS) employees, volunteers and partners were honored yesterday at a ceremony to Celebrate America’s National Parks and the Dedication of Those Who Serve. Many of the agency’s top awards were presented at the event sponsored by the National Park Service and its philanthropic partner the National Park Foundation.
“The amazing accomplishments of the award recipients represent the diversity of outreach efforts that are connecting people to their national parks,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “Throughout the country, we are passionately expanding the national narrative by incorporating new voices and experiences into programs and exhibits. From floating classrooms on the Chesapeake Bay that provide multisensory experiences for inner city youth, to expanding partnerships with Tribes to share Indigenous knowledge and traditions, we are striving to present a more inclusive and complete story where everyone can see themselves reflected in national parks.”
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park photo.
“National Park Service staff, volunteers, and park partners work tirelessly to protect national parks and connect people to the wonder of parks,” said National Park Foundation President and CEO Will Shafroth. “Their service inspires people to connect with and protect America’s national parks, ensuring more people are able to see themselves in national parks and feel welcome in these places that belong to all of us. Thank you for all you do.”
Following are the Volunteer Award Recipients:
The George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service recognize the exemplary contributions that NPS volunteers make to their park and to their community. Nearly 300,000 volunteers contribute more than 6.5 million hours of service annually in national parks, for a value of more than $185 million. George B. Hartzog, Jr. served as the 7th director of the NPS and created the Volunteers-In-Parks program in 1970.
• Judy Roderiques from New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park received the Hartzog Enduring Service Award. Roderiques has been a volunteer in the park since 1998 and is an integral part of its award-winning living history program, “Ruth and Abby: the 1850s Ladies.” She also played a lead role in scheduling and reorienting park volunteers when the park reopened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Bighorn Brigade at Rocky Mountain National Park received the Hartzog Park Volunteer Program Award. The group’s central mission is to help bighorn sheep cross the road. When not performing that duty, they engage with thousands of visitors sharing important park information. Bighorn sheep must travel down from higher elevations to reach minerals at natural salt licks, and these dedicated volunteers help these animals cross a busy park road. As increased visitation puts additional stress on wildlife, this program helps the bighorn sheep population and reduces the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions.
• Rob Albercht-Mallinger from Indiana Dunes National Park received the Hartzog Individual Volunteer Award. He leads the River Restoration Crew that ensures the East Branch of the Little Calumet River in the park is accessible and appealing to paddlers. The volunteer crew focuses on log jam removal, trash cleanup, and creating new boat launches to offer paddlers more than 11 miles of scenic views through some of the most biodiverse habitats in the national park.
• Sophie Schell from National Capital Parks-East received the Hartzog Youth Volunteer Award. An eight-grade student and member of Scouts BSA Troop 248 for Girls, she carried out her Eagle Scout project on the George Washington Carver Trail on the Suitland Parkway. She engaged dozens of volunteers to work on trail maintenance, beatification, accessibility improvements, and signage.
• Chris Allieri and the New York City Plover Project at Gateway National Recreation Area received the Hartzog Volunteer Group Award. They educate and engage visitors about piping plovers, a threatened species that nests on the park’s busiest beaches. Last summer, the group of 50 Shorebird Ecology Ambassador volunteers, or SEA-VIPs, donated 1,200 hours, made over 7,500 visitor contacts, and launched a new beachfront visitor contact station.
• Hawai’i Academy of Arts and Sciences Workplace Readiness Program at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park received the Hartzog Volunteer Youth
Group Award. The program engages developmentally disabled youth in stewardship activities. Working in the rainforest in all kinds of conditions, these stalwart volunteers have removed thousands of invasive Himalayan ginger which has enabled a thriving repopulation of native Hawaiian biota.
To learn more about Judy, and her contributions to New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, you can view her acceptance video on the park website.
