National Recreation Resource Leadership Award Recipients

National Recreation Resource Leadership Award Recipients:

The recipient of this annual award is chosen by the SORP Board of Directors to acknowledge an individual or organization whose career path has had a significant national impact on outdoor recreation and the outdoor recreation profession. 

2024 | Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the Interior

2022 | Angelou Ezeilo, Founder of Greening Youth Foundation

2020 | North Carolina State University, Department of Parks, Tourism, and Recreation

2019 | Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia) and Kenton Carruth (First Lite)

2018
Congressman Don Byer (VA)
Congressman Peter Welch (VT)
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH)
for establishing the Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account (ORSA) 

2017 | Recreation Equipment, Inc. (REI)

2016 | Liz Putnam, Founder of the Student Conservation Fund

2015 | Dr. Glenn E. Haas, Professor Emeritus at Colorado State University and Aukerman, Haas and Associates

2014 | The California State Parks Foundation, Elizabeth Goldstein, Executive Director

2013 | Outdoor Industry Association


2012 | Will Shafroth, Counselor to the Secretary for America's Great Outdoors, Department of the Interior

2011 | Dr. Ken Cordell, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station

2010 | Mike Pool, Bureau of Land Management

2009 | Bob Ratcliffe, Bureau of Land Management

2008 | Bob Meinen, Idaho Parks and Recreation

2007 | Donna Brasher, Lower Colorado River Authority

2006 | Not awarded

2005 | Greg Super, USDA Forest Service

2004 | Ney Landrum, retired Florida State Parks Director

2003 | Gaylord Nelson, Former U.S. Senator and Governor of Wisconsin

2002 | Courtland Nelson, Utah Division of Parks and Recreation

2001 | Robert Anderson, National Park Service

2000 | Darrell Lewis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

1999 | Dr. Arthur H. Mittelstaedt, Jr., Ed. D.

1998 | Dr. B. L. “Bev” Driver, retired – USDA Forest Service

1997 | Bill Spitzer, retired – National Park Service

1995 | Congressman Bruce Vento, Minnesota