[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 24 (Thursday, February 12, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E207-E208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     RECOGNIZING STELLA M. KOCH ON HER RETIREMENT FROM THE AUDUBON 
                           NATURALIST SOCIETY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 12, 2015

  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and commend my good 
friend, Stella M. Koch, on the occasion of her retirement after a 
distinguished career with the Audubon Naturalist Society, where she led 
conservation and environmental education and protection efforts 
throughout Northern Virginia and the Commonwealth. Safeguarding our 
natural environment has been more than a profession for Stella, it's 
been her passion. She truly embodies the famous epithet of the late 
Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso, ``bloom where you're planted.''
  Stella's environmental advocacy took root in the classroom, when she 
taught biology and was the science department chair at the Edmund Burke 
School in Washington, D.C., from 1977 to 1991. A fortuitous call to the 
Audubon Naturalist Society to inquire about working with its membership 
on Chesapeake Bay and land conservation issues ultimately led to her 
being hired by ANS to join its Virginia conservation staff, where she 
has spent the past 24 years. Through her professional duties and 
personal engagement in multiple community organizations, Stella has 
played a vital role in virtually every major environmental initiative 
in Northern Virginia for the past quarter century.
  I was pleased to be among the first to recruit Stella into our effort 
more than 20 years ago, and she has been a wonderful partner ever 
since. At the time, I was president of the Fairfax Federation of 
Citizen's Associations and convinced Stella to become the Federation's 
Environmental Chair. She wasted no time, diving into weighty issues 
during her two-year tenure, including helping to prevent a planned 
roadway from splitting Huntley Meadows Park in southern Fairfax and 
blocking a private effort to bring public sewer service and new 
development to Mason Neck, an environmentally sensitive area along the 
Potomac most notable for its National Wildlife Refuge that was created 
to protect local bald eagles.
  During this time she was instrumental in establishing the Virginia 
Environmental Network, and its successor the Virginia Conservation 
Network, which coordinated the activities of local and regional 
environmental groups across the Commonwealth. Through the Audubon 
Naturalist Society and her local civic engagement, Stella successfully 
pushed back on the proposed Disney theme park in Haymarket. Building on 
the public interest in the region's growth generated by that 
experience, the environmental community launched an effort that led to 
the creation of the Coalition for Smarter Growth to focus on educating 
people and community leaders about the importance and value in building 
more livable communities with mass transit connections and walkability.
  Stella was first appointed to serve on the County's Environmental 
Quality Advisory Committee in 1996. She has since been reappointed by 
me and my successor as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Sharon 
Bulova. Stella has served as chairman of the Committee for several 
years, and she also serves as one of the County's appointees to the 
Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. Under Stella's leadership, 
the Committee has become an influential voice, filing an annual report 
with the Board of Supervisors that serves as the blueprint for most 
local efforts to improve and protect our natural environment--
addressing air quality; climate change; ecological resources; energy 
efficiency; hazardous materials; land use and transportation; noise, 
light, and visible pollution; solid waste; water resources; and 
wildlife. It has become a model nationwide.
  Stella was instrumental in crafting Fairfax County's 20-year 
Environmental Agenda, the first such long-range vision ever adopted by 
the County, addressing all facets of the environment from improving air 
quality to preserving more of the county's green spaces to providing 
recreational options for residents. As a result of that plan, the 
County's Environmental Improvement Program won its first Achievement 
Award from the National Association of Counties, and we built on that 
success with the Cool Counties initiative, a national effort to help 
local governments reduce

[[Page E208]]

their carbon footprint. Stella also served as one of my appointees to 
the Tysons Land Use Task Force, a multi-year effort to re-envision the 
National Capital Region's second largest economic center as a transit-
oriented, walkable, green city served by the new Silver Line rather 
than a collection of disjointed office parks reachable only by 
automobile. Today, thanks to the leadership of Stella and so many 
others, that vision is becoming a reality.
  In addition to her work in our local community, Stella works on 
regional water quality issues. She has served on the Boards of the 
Center for Watershed Protection and the Potomac River Keeper, and as a 
Virginia appointee to the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Chesapeake 
Bay Council. Stella also is a founding member of the Fairfax League of 
Conservation Voters, which assesses the environmental agendas and 
records of candidates for local public office for endorsement. Her many 
accomplishments were recognized by the National Association of Biology 
Teachers' Outstanding Biology Teacher Award in 1989, the Virginia 
Wildlife Federation's Water Conservationist of the Year award in 1992, 
and the Fairfax County Park Authority's Sally Ormsby Environmental 
Stewardship Award, which was named for our late friend and fellow 
champion for the environment.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Stella 
Koch on her retirement and thanking her for many years of dedicated and 
selfless service. Thankfully, she is only retiring from her 
professional duties. In fact, she'll now have even more time to 
continue sharing her expertise and advocating for our environmental 
agenda. Much like the saplings, stream restoration, conservation 
easements, and many other projects in which she has had a hand, our 
community will continue to benefit from Stella's handiwork for 
generations to come. On behalf of a truly grateful community, I wish 
her all the best in this semi-retirement.

                          ____________________