Soft-spoken Michigan Congressman Vernon J. Ehlers has embraced Roosevelt's immortal credo during a career spent defending the Great Lakes and the nation's other majestic natural resources. His behind-the-scenes work was on brilliant display June 5, when the humble scientist-statesman from Grand Rapids was presented the state's highest environmental award: The Michigan Environmental Council's Helen and William Milliken Distinguished Service Award.

The Grand River surged past Grand Rapids' Bridgewater Place as Ehlers invoked the ideals of Roosevelt and earned a standing ovation from a room full of public officials, MEC member group representatives, friends and family.
Ehlers, a physicist and one of the few scientists in Congress, stood up for conservation principles, often leading other moderate Republicans to tip the scales in favor of the environment on close votes.

He has voted consistently for vehicle fuel economy standards that protect the air and reduce dependence on foreign oil; voted to keep Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge safe from invasive oil drilling; and consistently championed bills and budgets to establish firewalls against Great Lakes pollution and invasive species.

"Vern has been a friend and ally in common-sense approaches to creating sound environmental policy," said MEC President Lana Pollack, who served with Ehlers in the State Senate prior to his election to Congress. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out clean air and water is essential to the economy and public health, but it doesn't hurt to have a scientist like Vern on the job in Washington."

A physics professor at Calvin College, Ehlers won a seat on the Kent County Board of Commissioners in 1974 to address local solid waste disposal problems. He would go on to serve in the state House and Senate, before his election to Congress in 1993. Earlier this year, he was appointed chairman of the House Administration Committee, which oversees the National Zoo, the Smithsonian museums and the U.S. Botanical Gardens.

The gathering also acknowledged citizen activist Don A. Griffin, recipient of MEC's Petoskey Prize for Grassroots Environmental Leadership Award, for his lifelong work to improve the Rouge and Detroit river watersheds. Griffin will formally be honored in a Sept. 7 gathering with the Friends of the Detroit River.