<< Back 11/27/02 Smokies’ air specialist receives conservation award SMN Jim Renfro, the air quality specialist for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, received national recognition recently when he was presented with the prestigious Stephen T. Mather Award from the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). Renfro was recognized for his extraordinary success in raising public awareness of air quality issues while building an invaluable database on the levels and effects of pollution on resources and visitor enjoyment of America’s most-visited national park. “Jim embodies the highest standards of stewardship and personal dedication to the national park ideal of anyone I have ever known,” said Don Barger, NCPA’s Southeast Regional Director, who presented the award at the event. “By producing high-quality data and interacting relentlessly with parties from every interest, Jim has placed the welfare of our parks into the public debate on air pollution. In addition, he has become a master at translating complex data into understandable information for a variety of audiences. Basically, Jim Renfro has created the path for the leaders to follow.” Named for the first director of the National Park Service, the Stephen T. Mather Award is given annually to people who have demonstrated initiative and resourcefulness in promoting environmental protection in the national parks, who have taken significant action where others have hesitated, and who exemplify the principles and practices of good stewardship of the parks. Mike Tollefson, park superintendent, said Renfro had been instrumental in assembling a broad, reliable body of research to document the amount of air pollution present in the park and its damage to park systems. Air pollution, he said, is the park’s most serious and widespread problem. “And beyond that, he has raised public awareness of those problems at every level from elected officials and key decision-makers to school kids in area communities,” Tollefson said. “Within the last few years a series of legal and regulatory changes at the state and federal level have been implemented that will have a positive, measurable impact on the park’s air quality. Jim’s research and educational achievements have played a valuable role in generating support for those changes.”