The Fish and Boat Commission board Tuesday awarded Dr. William E. Sharpe of Port Matilda, Pa., with the 2008 Ralph W. Abele Conservation Heritage Award. Dr. Sharpe has devoted much of his professional career to producing scientific evidence that showed how acidic deposition was harming the state’s aquatic resources, forest health, and human health through contamination of water supplies.
He published the very first scientific paper showing how acidic deposition was harming Pennsylvania's aquatic resources in 1982.
He also played a leading role in reclaiming and enhancing significant water resources developing techniques like using limestone sand to restore acidic headwaters streams.
Leading a team of researchers and consultants, Dr. Sharpe used Growing Greener Program funding to tackle acidification on a large watershed scale in Mosquito Creek in northcentral Pennsylvania. The project studied using wetland treatment systems and land application of limestone sand to restore trout to parts of the watershed.
A former helicopter pilot in Vietnam, Dr. Sharpe received a B.S. and M.S. in Forestry from Penn State University and a PhD in Forestry from West Virginia University and served as a Professor of Forest Hydrology at Penn State until his retirement.
The Ralph W. Abele Conservation Heritage Award is the highest recognition the commission provides to persons who distinguished themselves in the cause of conservation. The award serves as a memorial to Ralph Abele for his steadfast and courageous work in protecting and conserving natural resources.
Ralph W. Abele served as executive director of the Commission from 1972 until 1987.
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