Aaron receives Highest Award

On Saturday, February 23, 2002, at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Annual Convention in Reno, Nevada, Dr. Jack Ward Thomas and Charles Decker presented the Wallace Pate Award of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to Aaron U. Jones.

Text of the presentation is as follows:

The Wallace Pate Award is the highest award given by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. It is given, only when deemed appropriate, to a person who exemplifies longstanding and exemplary service to the cause of wildlife conservation in North America.

Tonight, we honor a man whose long and highly productive life personifies the American dream, whose achievements in business are legend, whose achievements in the stewardship of forestland for production of wood and wood fiber is a model, and whose contributions to conservation are both highly significant and continuing apace.

He served the United States as an officer in World War II and, then, attained a college degree from the University of Oregon in 1947. Literally starting from scratch, he founded a sawmill company in 1953, which he developed into one of the most productive and technologically advanced in the world. Today, the company he founded and nurtured owns and manages over 165,000 acres of the most productive timberlands in the world under the concept of "best management practices" that exceeds all requirements of the Oregon Forest Practices Act, which are the most stringent in the United States.

Initially using his own resources, he established and continues to shepherd a movement to overcome the negative forest management consequences of the "checkerboard land ownership" patterns in Oregon. This being pursued through his concept of a "friendly swap" of lands whereby private owners and the Federal land management agencies could—without coercion—"block up" their ownerships. By doing so each can better achieve their management objectives to the overall benefit of the nation. These efforts have led to the development of cutting edge analysis techniques to evaluate alternatives and consequences of such "friendly swaps."

Progress has been slow but steady. A less determined man would have given up—but this man has a track record of doggedly pursuing his dreams and making them into realities. Success in this ongoing effort could be one of the monumental long-term achievements in modern American conservation history.

In the early years of RMEF, he served as Chairman of the Board, President, and Director of the fledgling organization. His generous contributions of time, prestige, contacts and money were crucial to the survival and growth of the organization. Some say, and with much reason, that if it were not for Aaron Jones and Wallace Pate there would not be a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation today. He holds Life Membership number seven.

He has been widely recognized and applauded by a variety of interest groups for a wide-range of achievements. A few of these recognitions follow. 

Tonight, he receives what we sincerely hope he will consider his most treasured recognition—the Wallace Pate Award—from his fellows in the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation he so successfully nurtured in its infancy.

It is our honor and privilege to introduce to you the recipient of the Wallace Pate Award. Please join us in recognizing Mr. Aaron U. Jones of Eugene, Oregon.