[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9514]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO DR. WILLIAM GLEN HOWLAND

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, after 17 years spent protecting Lake 
Champlain, Dr. William Glen Howland--Bill, to most of us--will retire 
this month as the director of the Lake Champlain Basin Program. We 
should all thank him and recognize his contributions to the 
conservation and restoration of Vermont's jewel, Lake Champlain, credit 
him for his many contributions to scientific research, and thank him 
for his commitment to the local community in which he lives and works.
  Under Bill's steady and thoughtful guidance, the Lake Champlain Basin 
Program, LCBP, has flourished in its mission to coordinate and fund 
work by Vermont, New York, and Quebec to protect Lake Champlain's water 
quality, fisheries, wetlands, wildlife, recreation, and cultural 
resources. At the Gordon Center House on Vermont's Grand Isle, Bill has 
assembled and guided a team of exceptional scientists and dedicated 
public servants. Bill has led the Lake Champlain Basin Program to 
become nationally and internationally recognized in the fields of 
ecosystem monitoring, prevention of the spread of invasive species, 
water pollution control, cultural heritage resource interpretation and 
protection, and public education. It is a model to which other 
watershed and basin programs aspire.
  I have often looked to Bill for his expert advice in developing and 
implementing Federal legislation and programs. Bill worked with me on 
the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Lake Champlain Basin Program Act of 2002, 
the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership Act adopted in 2006, 
and the Lake Champlain Ecosystem Restoration Authority, which was 
adopted as part of the Water Resources Development Act. Bill has 
testified more than once before Senate committees about the importance 
of environmental conservation programs and projects in the Lake 
Champlain and Great Lakes regions.
  I have been impressed by Bill's ability to bring all types of 
partners to the table, including local citizens, recreation 
organizations, heritage organizations, county planning offices, the 
Governors of Vermont and New York, Federal agencies, and even the 
Premier of Quebec. Bill's greatest skill may be diplomacy, considering 
he has confirmed trilateral Memoranda of Understanding with New York, 
Vermont, and Quebec in 2000, 2003, and 2010, has helped to guide two 
International Joint Commission inquiries, and has contributed to 
international trans-boundary conservation work through LAKENET, UNESCO 
HELP, and NANBO international lake summits. Remarkably, year after 
year, he has been able to achieve consensus on the allocation of 
millions of dollars in Lake Champlain funds among multiple Federal 
agencies, Vermont, New York, many private organizations, and countless 
partners on the ground.
  Bill's dedication to protecting Lake Champlain and the environment 
extends well beyond his tenure as director of the LCBP. During his many 
years as a faculty member and as a member of the research staff at 
Middlebury College, the University of Vermont, and McGill University, 
Bill has advanced the field of geography, particularly biophysical 
remote sensing and terrain modeling of northern ecosystems, which are 
critical tools as we track global climate change. He has been a role 
model and adviser to many young scientists, helping to shape their 
studies and their careers. He also served as the executive director of 
the Green Mountain Audubon Society for 5 years, before taking the reins 
at the LCBP.
  Like so many great Vermonters, Bill's service to his local and 
regional community has been remarkable. Many of Bill's neighbors owe 
their health and well-being to his decades of service as an advanced 
emergency medical technician on the Richmond and Grand Isle rescue 
squads. Bill has been an active board member of the Lake Champlain 
Committee and served on the Burlington Barge Canal Superfund panel, 
receiving a U.S. EPA Environmental Merit Award in 1997.
  Director Howland has my sincere gratitude for his years of dedicated 
service to his local community, to the Lake Champlain Basin, and all of 
Vermont, as well as to U.S. national and international conservation 
efforts and scientific research. I expect and hope that he will stay 
active on all of these fronts. Bill has much more to contribute. I wish 
him well in his retirement, and I hope that he and his wife, Betsy, 
will now get a chance to relax on the shores of Lake Champlain at their 
home in Isle La Motte.

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