Dr. Hubert “Hub” Vogelmann, of Jericho, Vermont, is the 2008 winner of the Guy Waterman Alpine Steward Award. Vogelmann, professor emeritus of botany at the University of Vermont, is best known for his pioneering research on acid rain, establishing UVM’s Field Naturalist Program, and his work on land conservation in Vermont. Vogelmann also has close ties to alpine issues.

Beginning in 1964, Vogelmann took graduate students to collect data from the alpine areas on Mt. Mansfield and Camel’s Hump. What began as a basic ecological study in an all but unknown field has become an important measuring tool as we confront global warming and climate change.

Vogelmann was instrumental in establishing Camel’s Hump’s first alpine naturalist and in creating the Green Mountain Club’s summit steward program. He worked to pass and later amend the 1963 Vermont Natural Areas Act, as well as the 1965 legislative act declaring Camel’s Hump an important state natural area, and later, a National Park Service Natural Landmark.

In beginning the Green Mountain Profile Committee, he worked to protect high elevations and pushed for Act 250, Vermont’s groundbreaking development and land use law, to require special permits for building above 2500 feet.

For over forty years, Hub Vogelmann has demonstrated a forward-thinking and consistent involvement in researching and protecting alpine areas, and in educating both scientific and recreational communities.