New award honors the Vermont forester who went on to become the first woman to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Montpelier, Vt. – The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) presented the inaugural Mollie Beattie Distinguished Service Award today at the Department’s annual meeting in Montpelier. The inaugural honorees are Jay Maciejowski, a retired FPR employee, and Kim Royar, a retired Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department employee, who together championed the multiple-use management of Vermont’s public lands, strengthened conservation partnerships, and expanded the public’s access to the outdoors.

Established by the Vermont Legislature in 2025, the Mollie Beattie Distinguished Service Award recognizes individuals whose contributions reflect Beattie’s commitment to conservation, outdoor recreation, and the stewardship of Vermont’s public lands. Current and former state employees or partners whose contributions have advanced the conservation, accessibility, recreational quality or sustainability of Vermont’s public lands are eligible.

Royar and Maciejowski worked together from the mid-80s to 2014. Their nominator, Stewardship Forester Tim Morton, wrote that they applied a connectivity and core forest approach to conservation long before it became standard practice, and that they helped carry natural community mapping into a regional model. They shepherded complex acquisitions with selectboards, planning and conservation commissions, landowners, land trusts and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, and their work enlarged Okemo State Forest and Mt. Ascutney State Park while securing public access. Their work also led to the creation of the Terrible Mountain Natural Area and the Cascade Falls Natural Area.

In retirement, Maciejowski remains active with the Pinnacle Association in Windham County, while Royar continues her work with the Mount Holly Conservation Trust, which continues to protect the Mount Holly bear corridor and the Awasos Wildlife Management Area.

“Mollie Beattie’s work integrating recreation, working lands, and conservation helped shape ANR’s approach to managing Vermont’s natural resources for multiple values and uses,” said FPR Commissioner Danielle Fitzko. “For nearly three decades, Jay and Kim brought patience, sound science and a willingness to sit down with every town, landowner and partner in service of that vision, and the result is forests, wildlife corridors and public access that Vermonters will enjoy for generations. It is an honor to present the first Mollie Beattie Distinguished Service Award to two people who so fully reflect her example.”

Beattie, a Vermont forester, served as FPR Commissioner from 1985 to 1989. In 1993, President Bill Clinton named her director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, making her the first woman to lead the agency. During her tenure, she defended the Endangered Species Act, advocated an ecosystem approach to conservation, and played a pivotal role in returning gray wolves to the northern Rocky Mountains. After her death, Congress named an eight-million-acre wilderness in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in her honor. She is remembered for the words, “What a country chooses to save is what a country chooses to say about itself.”

“Mollie Beattie believed deeply in conserving Vermont’s natural resources and ensuring our public lands are accessible for all to enjoy,” said Peter Anthony, former Barre City Representative and proponent of the award in Mollie’s name. “This award was created not only to honor her remarkable legacy, but also to recognize those who carry her values forward through their leadership, dedication, and service. It’s especially meaningful to see this award come to life and celebrate the people whose contributions make a lasting difference for Vermont’s forests and public lands.”

Each recipient received a Vermont-made commemorative tree ring “cookie” print made from a bear-scarred ash tree in the region in which they worked, by Katie Babic of Katie Babic Designs.

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