Forest Service Employee Honored at Centennial Boy Scout Jamboree

USDA Forest Service employee Tim Beaty was awarded the Boy Scouts' William T. Hornaday Gold Medal, at the recent 2010 Centennial Celebration of the Boy Scout National Jamboree, for his decades-long association with the Jamboree.

Beaty received the award for his tireless efforts to influence and educate young people in the complexities and challenges of land management and natural resource conservation. He has served as the Forest Service liaison to the Jamboree over the past 24 years and is the lead organizer for the exhibits, displays, and volunteers and staff who construct and run the Decision Trail and Jamboree National Forest at the Jamboree site.

Beaty was instrumental in the development of the Jamboree's Conservation Trail, a large segment of the Jamboree devoted entirely to conservation education with venues created and staffed by state and local government agencies and environmental and conservation group volunteers.

"I heartily congratulate Tim as he joins quite a list of Forest Service luminaries in receiving this prestigious award from the Boy Scouts," said USDA Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. "By getting kids into forests at an early age, we are instilling a lifelong appreciation and stewardship of our nation's precious natural resources."

Beaty joins a small group of only 50 honored recipients since the award's inception in 1914, among those a few highly-distinguished Forest Service employees, including wilderness advocate and Forest Service pioneer Aldo Leopold. Another former recipient, former Forest Service Chief Max Peterson, placed the Gold Medal on Beaty at this year's ceremony.

Founded by Dr. Hornaday, the director of the New York Zoological Park and founder of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the Hornaday Gold Medal is the highest individual conservation award presented to an adult scout for outstanding service in natural resource conservation and youth education on a multistate or national basis.