Carol Labashosky, USACE Louisville District public affairs specialist, was honored with a national-level award for her work on the district’s Green River Watershed Summit held Feb. 20-21, 2014.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently announced the recipients of the Locke L. Mouton awards, which are awarded to Corps public affairs professionals in several categories. Labashosky’s contributions to the success of the Green River Summit earned her first place in the community relations category.
“The summit brought together representatives from the myriad parties who have an interest in the future of the Green River Watershed—private land owners, government agencies, industry, academia, said Labashosky. “It was a great platform for education and outreach.”
Organizations, agencies and interested individuals with a stake in the health of the Green River were invited to learn from experts and share ideas centered around protecting the watershed—an ecological treasure in Kentucky. Labashosky was instrumental in coordinating communication, hosting internal staff meetings among the district’s operations, planning, hydraulics and hydrology, engineering, and the Green River Lake staff to communicate effectively the summit’s purpose of ecosystem restoration.
“I’m thrilled,” said Labashosky of the award. “It was a team effort. I worked with the district’s planning section lead project manager Nate Moulder, who was really the brains behind the operation.”
Todd Hornback, public affairs chief, emceed the event and lended expertise.
The coordinated teamwork of Labashosky and Moulder to form and execute the agenda and obtain highly-credentialed guest speakers provided critical information to the Corps for future decision-making.
“It produced very focused feedback that will be used to improve the watershed,” Labashosky said.
Brig. Gen. Richard Kaiser, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division commander, congratulated Labashosky in a letter, saying “Your award selection signifies an appreciation for the impact of your hard work and demonstrates how much you are personally invested in [the division]...Well done!”
Her work on the Green River Watershed Summit also earned Labashosky first place in the Herbert A. Kassner public affairs competition in the community relations, individual achievement category.