PORTLAND (AP) – Austin Wilkins, the 100-year-old forestry expert who pioneered the development of the Maine Forest Service, became the first recipient of an award named in his honor.

Gov. John Baldacci presented the inaugural Austin H. Wilkins Forest Stewardship Award to Wilkins on Tuesday during a ceremony at the Blaine House.

The award, sponsored by the state Department of Conservation and the Maine Tree Foundation, recognizes an individual or organization that has made an extraordinary contribution to the stewardship of Maine’s forest.

Wilkins served as state forestry commissioner or deputy commissioner under 13 governors. He led the fight against the devastating forest fires of 1947 and later developed policies to reduce the chances that such fires could occur again.

In the aftermath of those fires, Wilkins developed a forest fire compact covering the six New England states, New York, New Brunswick and Quebec.

Ron Lovaglio, former conservation commissioner, said the compact was invoked once during his own administration when Maine’s fire-fighting helicopters were grounded because of maintenance issues and the state relied for coverage on aircraft from Nova Scotia.

Wilkins was a close friend of Gov. Percival Baxter, assisting in the creation of Baxter State Park and then serving for 13 years as chairman of the Baxter State Park Authority.

“I don’t think there is a professional forester in Maine who wouldn’t recognize his name,” said David Field, chairman of the department of forest management at the University of Maine.

A Massachusetts native and University of Maine graduate, Wilkins was appointed forestry commissioner by Gov. Edmund Muskie in 1958. Wilkins is the author of “Ten Million Acres of Timber,” a history of the Maine forestry district, as well as a book about the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Wilkins remained active in forestry even into his 90s, Lovaglio recalled, noting that he ran into Wilkins, who was then 92, at a Maine Forest Products Council meeting.

When Lovaglio expressed surprise at seeing him, Wilkins told him, “Well, you know there’s pretty interesting stuff being discussed, and I wanted to come up and listen to it.”