Environmental Law Institute - National Wetlands Awards

 Richard "Rick" Gitar is a Water Regulatory Specialist for the Fond du Lac Reservation’s Office of Water Protection in Northeastern Minnesota. In 1998, as a Wetland Specialist for the Reservation, Gitar developed a Wetland Protection and Conservation Plan and updated the Reservation's National Wetland Inventory dataset on GIS. Since then, his duties have expanded to include the development of a wetland regulatory program as well as a Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Tribal Water Quality Certification program based on EPA-approved Tribal Water Quality Standards; overseeing the CWA Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System; and managing the development of all National Environmental Policy Act documents for the Reservation.

Mr. Gitar completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Journalism at the University of Wisconsin – Superior (UWS) in 1992. While working as an instructor for UWS (1993-1997), Rick earned a Master of Science degree in Environmental Biology from the University of Minnesota – Duluth. At the same time, he also operated his own environmental consulting company, which specialized in rare plant surveys and wetland mitigation monitoring.

Over the past four years, Mr. Gitar has shared his expertise as a valued member of the board of the Association of State Wetland Managers. Outside of work, he is pursuing his own independent study of the medicinal uses of native plants and researching the roots of his Mic Mac heritage.