Assistant Secretary Rhea Suh has announced that the Midwest Region's Neosho National Fish Hatchery in Missouri is a recipient of the 2013 Department of Interior Environmental Achievement Award. A model of sustainability, the Visitor Center was nominated in the “Building the Future” award category.
Awards recognize departmental employees and partners who have attained exceptional achievements under Executive Order 13514 “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance” and for cleaning up contaminated land. The Award categories are: Sustainability Hero; Green Innovation; Lean, Clean and Green; Good Neighbor; Green Dream Team; Building the Future; and Environmental Remediation.
An interdisciplinary panel of reviewers from the Department’s bureaus and offices evaluated nominations to recommend Award recipients and honorable mentions. The panel is chaired by the Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance.
Neosho National Fish Hatchery was established in 1888 and is the oldest operating federal fish hatchery. The hatchery encompasses approximately 18 acres in the heart of the town of Neosho, Missouri, due to availability of excellent-quality spring water. It raises endangered pallid sturgeon for recovery efforts in the lower Missouri River and rainbow trout for stocking in Lake Taneycomo. It supports conservation of the endangered Ozark cavefish and restoration of native mussels. Now more than 20 years after the hatchery’s centennial, this new high-performance 9,839 square-foot Visitor Center, which is the first Service building to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating officially from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), opened in December 2010. Energy efficiency strategies used throughout the building include a cool roof, day lighting, low-e glazed windows, energy-efficient lighting and a 31.13 ton geothermal heat pump. The Visitor Center is architecturally designed to mimic the original headquarters from 1888, which featured similar onion dome and witches hat roof styles.
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