Wabash - Erie Canal Corridor

Purdue Professor Receives Citizen of the Wabash & National River Hero Awards

Bernie Dahl, Program Chair of Landscape Architecture, Purdue University College of Agriculture, and a current director and past president of the Banks of the Wabash, Inc, was the recipient of the 2008 Citizen of the Wabash award presented by the Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission and one of five national winners honored Sunday evening at the 2008 National River Rally held in Huron, Ohio.

The Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission’s Citizen award honors those who have provided exemplary service to the Corridor Commission’s vision and mission while River Network’s annual River Hero award celebrates rivers and those who protect them by recognizing some of the victories and honoring those who provide the Network with leadership and inspiration along the way. The award is open to any individual board member, staff, volunteer or private citizen) who has successfully worked with a river conservation organization to improve a river and its watershed and who over the years has made a sustained contribution to the conservation of the river. Click here for a list of past recipients.

Caption: Ron James, left, executive director of the Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission, presented the 2008 Citizen of the Wabash award and introduced Bernie Dahl, a Banks of the Wabash director, and program chair of Landscape Architecture at Purdue University's College of Agriculture, as he received National River Hero honors.

Professor Dahl was already a hero among Indiana’s river networks. As Ron James, Executive Director of the Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission said in nominating Dahl for a 2008 River Hero award, “Bernie casts a wide net of river-centric activities but is being nominated specifically for his efforts with the Banks of the Wabash, Inc., an organization which has as its mission to preserve, enhance and promote the significant historic, cultural, recreational and archaeological resources of the Wabash River Corridor and to improve the quality of life in communities along the corridor, create regional identity, pursue economic advancement and promote heritage tourism. Bernie was a significant force in this organization’s creation and served as its president for the last decade; during its explosive growth as a regional river non-profit.”

Kenneth Einselen, President, Banks of the Wabash, Inc., says of our Hoosier River Hero Award recipient “Bernie Dahl has invested his life and career in the Wabash River . . . [his impact] upon the Wabash River, the lives of his many students, and that [‘spreading influence’ among] many communities today and in the future cannot be measured.”

Dahl's work as program chair for a top 10 landscape architecture school, has broadened his influence to more than 1000 graduates over a period of nearly 35 years. Purdue has allowed him to meld his passion in community assistance and service learning projects. Over the past 20 years Dahl, through this program, has conducted over 150 projects in over 120 communities with the overwhelming number proposing improving watersheds through public enhancement. Many of the communities are targeted because they traditionally would not engage the services of a landscape architect. This enabled Dahl, and the Purdue classes he lead, the opportunity to educate communities of 560 to 130,000 about the benefits of the preservation of the riparian corridor, the maintenance of filters, and the broader mission of the entire corridor.