Sheriff Dave Ward, credited with helping resolve a 41-day armed standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016, will receive the Center of the American West’s Wallace Stegner Award on Oct. 3, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. at Old Main Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.
Photo of Harney County, Oregon Sheriff Dave Ward (Credit: Dave Ward)
He is being recognized for his role during the standoff with protestors. The groups involved in the occupation were upset over federal land use policies. Ward will also be recognized for his gifted storytelling as a part of the Center of the American West’s Humor Initiative.
Patty Limerick, faculty director of the center, will interview Ward.
“Sheriff Ward did everything imaginable to hold his community together during the takeover of the refuge, maintaining a steady stance of reason and good nature in an agitated time,” Limerick said. “He is also one of the West’s great storytellers, registering, in our opinion, pretty darned close to the achievements of Mark Twain.”
The Wallace Stegner Award is granted annually to a person who has made a sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West through literature, art, history, lore or an understanding of the region.
Previous recipients include documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner, and John McPhee, The New Yorker contributor and Pulitzer Prize winner.
“Over the last thirty-five years, living in Boulder and traveling around the West, I have gotten to know hundreds of people who have dazzled me with their strength of character and their unwavering commitment to the well-being of the West and of the nation,” Limerick said. “I rank Sheriff Ward at the top of that long list of Westerners I admire. His wisdom, integrity, and capacity to bring out the best in his fellow human beings add up to one of this region’s most valuable resources.”
The center’s Humor Initiative honors individuals whose skills and temperaments support the center’s central conviction: A dose of good humor is essential to constructive public discussion, and not coincidentally, to public health.
