DURHAM, N.C. – Curtis J. Richardson, director of the Duke University Wetland Center and professor of resource ecology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, has been named recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS).

Richardson will be presented the award June 4 in a special ceremony at the society’s annual meeting in Duluth, Minn.

In selecting him for the high honor, the SWS selection committee noted: “Dr. Richardson is an internationally acclaimed wetland ecologist and soil scientist who has dedicated his research career to conducting studies on nutrient and metal biogeochemistry and wetland restoration throughout the United States and the world.  His research and outstanding publications on some of the most important wetland issues of our time have advanced wetland science, influenced wetland policy and management, increased scientific and public awareness of wetland issues, and inspired graduate students.”

Over the course of his more than 40-year career, Richardson has led pioneering studies on wetlands loss and restoration in the Everglades; along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast; in rapidly developing urban landscapes of North Carolina; in the heavily degraded Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq; and in other threatened wetland ecosystems worldwide.

He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, presentations, book chapters or books, including “The Everglades Experiments: Lessons for Ecosystem Restoration,” a 698-page work published by Springer in 2008 and considered seminal in the field. 

In recent years, Richardson has focused much of his scholarly efforts on the role restored wetlands can play in mitigating urban runoff.  Under his guidance, the Duke Wetland Center has created the Stream Wetlands Assessment Management Park (SWAMP), a 24-acre restored stream and wetland complex located in Duke Forest adjacent to the university campus.  The SWAMP site treats nearly 1,300 acres of storm water runoff from Duke’s campus and surrounding neighborhoods. It has reduced the amount of nitrogen flowing into downstream waters by 64 percent and phosphorus by 24 percent, as well as removing nearly 500 metric tons of sediment.

To learn more about the work being done at the Duke Wetland Center, go tohttp://www.nicholas.duke.edu/wetland.  

The Society of Wetland Scientists is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1980 to promote wetland science. It has more than 2,500 members.  

In recognition of his scientific contributions to the field, Richardson was elected a member of the SWS’s inaugural class of Fellows in 1994.  He is only the 11th scientist to be recognized by the society with a Lifetime Achievement Award.  He also has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Soil Science Society of America.