ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNAL – ‘Steward of Environment’ Rises Through Ranks at DEM
By Peter B. Lord
Larry Mouradjian, who went to work as a laborer for the state Department of Environmental Management 27 years ago, was promoted to one of the agency’s top jobs last week: associate director for natural resources management.
Mouradjian has been acting associate director since 2004. He filled in for David Borden, who retired. Borden was preceded by Malcolm Grant, who held the associate director’s position for 13 years before retiring in 2004.
In his position, Mouradjian supervises some of the more visible parts of the DEM, including its divisions of agriculture, coastal resources, fish and wildlife, forest environment, law enforcement and parks and recreation.
Those divisions run the state parks, state management areas and public beaches.
In making Mouradjian’s promotion official, DEM director W. Michael Sullivan said, “Larry Mouradjian is a dedicated professional and a passionate steward of our environment, and I am very pleased that he has accepted this position. Larry’s extensive experience and firsthand knowledge of the Bureau of Natural Resources, and the broad range of programs and services it offers the public, will serve the state well.”
Mouradjian went to work at the DEM after graduating from the University of Rhode Island with a bachelor of science degree in natural resources. He rose through the ranks, holding nearly every position in the parks and forest divisions.
From laborer, he became a forest ranger, a senior forest ranger, a park caretaker supervisor, a park manager and then chief of the division of parks and recreation.
He also has completed courses in advanced incident command, police training, forestry law enforcement and firefighting basic training. He is a licensed arborist and holds a state pesticide applicator’s license.
“I have a strong commitment to the value of our natural resource programs in contributing to and protecting our quality of life and natural heritage,” Mouradjian said in a statement. “I am dedicated to passing on our stewardship responsibilities for future generations to enjoy.”
Environmental fair at Jewish Center
A newly formed Rhode Island Jewish Environmental Alliance is presenting a family-friendly environmental fair from 1 to 4 p.m. next Sunday, at the Jewish Community Center of Rhode Island, on Elmgrove Avenue in Providence.
The event is the first sponsored by the alliance, which was formed last summer to “develop and implement sound environmental practices within the state’s Jewish community and to root a local environmental commitment in Jewish ritual and values.”
Along with the fair, the group will celebrate Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the fruits of the earth, with a Seder at 3 p.m. The fair will feature local farmers providing samples of their produce, local environmental groups, food from kosher caterers, crafts and games for children, the Zoomobile from Roger Williams Park Zoo, and a screening of the film The Future of Food, which investigates genetically engineered foods.
“We are thrilled to introduce RIJEA to the community in such a big way,” said Daniel Orenstein, who founded the group with Alicia Lehrer. “We all depend on the earth for our survival and, because its resources are finite, we must enjoy and respect it so that it can be preserved for us and our children.”
For more information, go to www.rijea.org or contact Orenstein at (401) 274-0623 or at Daniel@coejl.org.
Global warming film screening
You can watch An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary about global warming narrated by Al Gore, at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography this afternoon, and then discuss the movie with a veteran oceanographer and climate expert.
The movie will be shown in the auditorium of the Coastal Institute at URI’s Bay Campus.
After the showing, Kate Moran, associate dean at GSO and a global climate change expert, will answer questions. Moran’s work has been featured in National Geographic and The New York Times. Last year she led a team of scientists in groundbreaking discoveries about the climatic evolution of the Arctic.
Seal-viewing cruises offered
Save the Bay and the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation are hosting cruises to look at seals off Newport at 1 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. next Sunday.
The cruises will leave Bowen’s Wharf in Newport on the M/V Alletta Morris, a vessel that comes equipped with heat, an expert guide and binoculars.
Tickets are $20 each. There are $5 discounts for members of Save the Bay and the lighthouse foundation, as well as the elderly and children between 6 and 12.
Reservations are recommended. Call (401) 324-6020 or e-mail sealtours@savebay.org.
Conservationist to speak at meeting
The Aquidneck Island Land Trust has scheduled its 17th annual meeting for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Atlantic Beach Club in Middletown.
Darby Bradley, president of the Vermont Land Trust, will be the guest speaker.
Considered one of the “senior statesmen” of the land conservation movement, Bradley joined the Vermont Land Trust in 1981 and became its president in 1990. Under his leadership, the organization has become one of the premier land trusts in the country.
Bradley was named Vermonter of the Year by The Burlington Free Press in 2000 and received the national Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award in 2006.
The public is welcome, but reservations should be made by calling Megan Andersen at (401) 849-2799, ext. 19. Admission is free. The evening begins with a buffet meal.
URI hosts seminar with Ballard
Teachers interested in learning more about ocean science are invited to a special seminar Thursday, featuring Robert Ballard, the University of Rhode Island oceanographer who is probably the country’s leading educator on ocean topics.
There will be a reception from 5 to 6 p.m. and Ballard will sign copies of his books for those who bring them. The seminar is from 6 to 7 p.m. Both will be in Corless Auditorium at the University of Rhode Island’s Bay Campus.
The seminar is sponsored by URI’s office of marine programs and the Southeastern New England Marine Educators (SENEME), a group that supports marine and freshwater environmental education and works to develop an appreciation and stewardship for those environments.
Preregistration is required. Call (401) 874-6211 or go to www.seneme.org. The fee is $5 for SENEME members and $25 for others (which includes a one-year SENEME membership.)
Climate program offers music, talk
A special program that addresses global climate change with music and conversation is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, at the URI Multicultural Center on the Kingston campus.
“Climate Change, Science and Religion” is a creative program that includes conversation among four people accompanied by songs and followed by a discussion.
Christine Muller, of Kingston, who works in URI’s music preparatory program, initiated the presentation. A lifelong student of environmental issues, she wrote the dialogue and some of the songs.
Muller will play piano and her son, Manuel, a URI freshman, will be a reader. Other readers include Melodie Taylor, of Providence; Amanda Huggon, of Whitman, Mass.; and Bud Phelps, of Coventry.
The program is sponsored by the Multicultural Center, URI Chaplains, the South Kingstown Baha’I Group, the URI Preparatory Music Program, the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies and the URI Women’s Center. It is free and open to the public.
The Environmental Journal is a listing of brief news items about the actions of individuals, organizations and businesses that affect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the landscape that surrounds us. If you have comments or suggestions, please contact environment reporter Peter B. Lord at (401) 277-8036, by e-mail at plord@projo.com or by writing him, care of The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.
* * *
MUG: MOURADJIAN
* * *
The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl
Harbor seals rest on a rock off Rose Island recently. Save the Bay and the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation are offering two seal- viewing cruises from Newport next weekend.
(c) 2007 Providence Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.