Volunteer Award Winners

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2014 Winners

SAN FRANCISCO – A woman who has spent a lifetime fighting for environmental justice in a historic African-American community in Mississippi, a photographer who has documented the environmental impact of the wall along the U.S. -Mexico border, and a park ranger who was shot while trying to protect wildlife in the Congo’s Virunga National Park are among the people who will be receiving national awards from the Sierra Club this year. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in San Francisco on Friday, Nov. 21.

The Club’s top award, the John Muir Award, is going to author and conservationist Terry Tempest Williams. Williams was featured in Ken Burns’ 2009 PBS series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” and her prose was featured in the documentary “Forever Wild: Celebrating America’s Wilderness.” Her writing also has appeared in SIERRA magazine, The New YorkerThe New York TimesOrion magazine and numerous anthologies worldwide as a crucial voice for ecological consciousness and social change.

“Terry has been an eloquent voice for wilderness, while also sounding the alarm on issues ranging from nuclear contamination and reckless oil and gas development on public lands to attacks on our democracy,” said Sierra Club President David Scott. “As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act this year, it is entirely fitting that she should receive the Sierra Club’s highest award.”

Another top award, the William E. Colby Award, is going to Fran Caffee of Aurora, Ill. Caffee has provided leadership to the Sierra Club at the local, state and national levels for 30 years.

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison is receiving the Edgar Wayburn Awardwhich honors outstanding service to the environment by a person in government. Ellison has been at the forefront of initiatives to reduce carbon pollution from power plants, extend the Federal wind energy production tax credit, and cut federal subsidies to big oil companies.

Two other public officials – Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky and New York Assemblyman Robert Sweeney –  are receiving the Distinguished Service Award, which honors persons in public service for strong and consistent commitment to conservation. Despite being from a coal-mining state, Yarmuth has fought for strong federal standards to prevent toxic mine waste from being dumped in nearby streams and valleys. Sweeney has served in the New York State Assembly since 1988 and has served as Chair of the Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee since 2007.

Rose Johnson of Gulfport, Miss., is receiving a new award called the Robert Bullard Environmental Justice Award, which is named after Dr. Robert Bullard, who is often referred to as the “Father of Environmental Justice.” Johnson has spent years trying to preserve and protect Turkey Creek, a 13-mile stream where she was baptized as a child. She is prominently featured in the award-winning film “Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek,” which was released this year.

The Ansel Adams Award, which honors excellence in conservation photography, is going to Krista Schlyer of Mount Rainier, Md. Schlyer has used her photography to raise awareness about the devastating ecological effects of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Her 2012 book, Continental Divide: Wildlife, People and the Border Wall, received the National Outdoor Book Award and the “Best of the Best” of university presses by the American Library Association.

The David R. Brower Award, which recognizes excellence in environmental journalism, is going to Ron Seely of Madison, Wis. Seely spent 20 years covering science and the environment for the Wisconsin State Journal.

The William O. Douglas Award, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding use of the legal/judicial process to achieve environmental goals, is going to Jim Pew, an attorney from Washington, D.C., who has filed a series of lawsuits that have forced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fully implement the provisions of the Clean Air Act.

The EarthCare Award, which honors an individual, organization, or agency that has made a unique contribution to international environmental protection and conservation is going to Wolfgang Burhenne of Bonn, Germany, who has been a pioneer in the field of international environmental law.

The Raymond Sherwin International Award, which honors extraordinary volunteer service toward international conservation, is going to Janice Meier of Gaithersburg, Md. Meier has represented the Sierra Club at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change talks and serves as co-leader of a working group that provides advice to UNFCCC participants on environmentally sound climate technologies.

The Chico Mendes Award, which honors individuals or non-governmental organizations outside the United States who have exhibited extraordinary courage and leadership in the universal struggle to protect the environment, is going to Emmanuel de Mérode and the rangers who have given their lives trying to protect the wildlife in the Congo’s Virunga National Park. In the past 10 years, more than 140 rangers from the park have been killed on the job. De Mérode himself was shot and seriously wounded as he drove through the park in April 2014.

Other awards that will be presented include the following:

Communication Award (honors the best use of communications by a Sierra Club group, chapter or other entity to further the Club’s mission): the Sierra Club Borderlands Team.

Denny and Ida Wilcher Award (recognizes excellence in fundraising and/or membership development): The John Muir Chapter Fundraising Committee.

Joseph Barbosa Award (recognizes Sierra Club members under the age of 30): Cara Cooper of Lexington, Ky., and Natalie Lucas of Flagstaff, Ariz. Cooper has been a member of the Sierra Student Coalition Executive Committee and currently works as an organizer with the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition. Lucas also has been active with the Sierra Student Coalition and served as director of the Office of Sustainability at the University of Arizona. Both will receive $500 to further their conservation work.

Madelyn Pyeatt Award (recognizes work with youth): Shirley Hickman of Los Angeles, Calif. Hickman has worked with Angeles Chapter’s Inspiring Connections Outdoors program for 25 years. That program will receive $500 in recognition of Hickman’s award.

Oliver Kehrlein Award (for outstanding service to the Sierra Club’s outings program): Arthur Kuehne of Dallas, Texas. Kuehne has led a variety of trips to destinations across the country, including weekend and extended backpacking, hiking, paddling, biking and walking trips.

Special Achievement Awards (for a single act of importance dedicated to conservation or the Sierra Club): Stephen Lee Montgomery of Waipahu, Hawaii. Montgomery was instrumental in helping the United States land the 2016 quadrennial World Conservation Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, an event that is expected to bring together more than 6,000 delegates from throughout the world to focus on pressing conservation issues.

Special Service Awards (for strong and consistent commitment to conservation over an extended period of time): Russ Maddox of Seward, Alaska; David O’Leary of Silver Spring, Md.; and Michael Williams of Santa Fe, N.M. Maddox helped stop a proposed coal-fired power plant in Seward, has helped the Sierra Club initiate litigation against a coal-export facility and has helped lead an ongoing legal effort to clean up the coal dust problem plaguing Seward. O’Leary has held a variety of leadership positions in the Sierra Club’s Maryland Chapter and Williams is a national authority on clean air issues.

Susan Miller Award (honors administrative contributions to Sierra Club groups, chapters and regional entities): Ron Haines of Lantana, Fla., and Arthur Feinstein of San Francisco, Calif. Haines has been an active member of the Sierra Club’s Florida Chapter for more than 20 years and Feinstein has provided valuable leadership to the Club’s San Francisco Bay Chapter.

Walter Starr Award (honors continuing work by a former member of the Sierra Club Board of Directors): Sue Merrow of Colchester, Conn. Merrow served three terms on the Board of Directors, including a year as Club President in 1990-1991. Since completing her service on the Board, she has been active on a variety of  national teams and committees that are aimed at building leadership capacity and improving organizational effectiveness.

 

2013 Winners

SAN FRANCISCO – A photographer who has documented the world’s vanishing glaciers, an organization that has helped protect land in the United Kingdom, and an environmental activist who has been jailed for his opposition to a major water project in South Korea are among the people and organizations who will be receiving national awards from the Sierra Club this year. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in San Francisco on Saturday, Sept. 21.

The Club’s top award, the John Muir Award, is going to Dr. Robert Bullard, who currently serves as dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston. Bullard is a leading scholar and advocate for environmental justice and is frequently referred to as “the father of the environmental justice.” He has written 17 books that address topics such as environmental racism, industrial facility siting, smart growth and sustainable development.

 
Another top award, the William E. Colby Award, is going to Debbie Heaton of Middletown, Del. Heaton has held a variety of leadership positions within the Sierra Club for the past 20 years, both with the Delaware Chapter and at the national level.
 
Two mayors also are being honored by the Sierra Club this year. Former two-term Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is receiving the Edgar Wayburn Award, which honors outstanding service to the environment by a person in government. Under Villaraigosa’s leadership, Los Angeles announced it will become the first large city in the United States to stop using electricity generated by coal-fired power plants. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is receiving the Distinguished Achievement Award, which honors persons in public service for a particular action of singular importance to conservation. Nutter has spearheaded a project called Greenworks Philadelphia, which is designed to make Philadelphia a more sustainable and livable city.
 
Maxine S. Goad of Santa Fe, N.M., is receiving the Distinguished Service Award, which honors persons in public service for strong and consistent commitment to conservation. As an employee of the New Mexico Environment Department, Goad helped guide New Mexico’s efforts to protect ground water in the state.
 
The Ansel Adams Award, which honors excellence in conservation photography, is going to James Balog, a Colorado-based photographer who has documented the world’s vanishing glaciers through the Extreme Ice Project. The project is featured in the 2009 NOVA documentary “Extreme Ice,” and in the feature-length documentary “Chasing Ice,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012. Balog has published eight books, including his most recent, which is titled Ice: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers.
 
The David R. Brower Award, which recognizes excellence in environmental journalism, is going to Dave Fehling and the StateImpact Texas reporting team, which is a joint effort between public radio stations KUHF in Houston and KUT in Austin. The project has been producing in-depth stories on how energy and environmental issues affect the public.
 
The William O. Douglas Award, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding use of the legal/judicial process to achieve environmental goals, is going to David Bender of Madison, Wis. Bender has sued dozens of Wisconsin polluters and has helped stopped the construction of coal-fired power plants across the country.
 
The EarthCare Award, which honors an individual, organization, or agency that has made a unique contribution to international environmental protection and conservation is going to the John Muir Trust, which currently owns or manages more than 100,000 acres of the finest wild areas in the United Kingdom.
 
The Raymond Sherwin International Award, which honors extraordinary volunteer service toward international conservation, is going to Christine Elwell of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Elwell has played a valuable role in fostering effective cross-border conservation work involving the Sierra Club and Sierra Club Canada.
 
The Chico Mendes Award, which honors individuals or non-governmental organizations outside the United States who have exhibited extraordinary courage and leadership in the universal struggle to protect the environment, is going to Choi Yul of Seoul, South Korea. Choi has been a pioneer in the environmental movement in Korea and Asia for the past 40 years and has been imprisoned since February for his activism against the Four Rivers Project in South Korea.
 
Other awards that will be presented include the following:
Communication Award (honors the best use of communications by a Sierra Club group, chapter or other entity to further the Club’s mission): the Rocky Mountain Chapter Communications Team.
 
Denny and Ida Wilcher Award (recognizes excellence in fundraising and/or membership development): The Falls of the James Group in Richmond, Va. For the past 16 years, this group has put on an annual yard sale in cooperation with the University of Richmond and Goodwill Industries that helps recycle items left behind by students at the University of Richmond and serves as a fundraiser for all the groups involved.
 
Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award (recognizes contributions to mountaineering): R.J. Secor of Pasadena, Calif. Secor is a prolific mountain climber and the author of The High Sierra – Peaks, Passes and Trails, which is now in its third printed edition.
 
Joseph Barbosa Award (recognizes Sierra Club members under the age of 30): Jessica Olson of Round Rock, Texas, and Jessica Sieglie Quiñones of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Olson is a member of the Sierra Student Coalition Executive Committee and has interned with the Club’s Lone Star Chapter. Quiñones has helped organize zero waste committees in towns across Puerto Rico. Both will receive $500 to further their conservation work.
 
Madelyn Pyeatt Award (recognizes work with youth): Liz Wheelan of Dallas, Texas. Wheelen chairs the Club’s Dallas Inner City Outings program, which will receive $500 in recognition of this award.
 
Oliver Kehrlein Award (for outstanding service to the Sierra Club’s outings program): Ray and Lynne Simpson of Santa Cruz, Calif. The Simpsons have led more than 160 national or international trips for the Sierra Club and been involved with the management of the National Outings Committee.
 
One-Club Award (honors Sierra Club members who have used outings as a way to protect or improve public lands, instill an interest in conservation, increase membership in the Sierra Club, or increase awareness of the Sierra Club): Suzanne Valencia of West Melbourne, Fla. Valencia has staffed 45 national service trips, which are estimated to have contributed approximately 15,120 volunteer hours to a variety of public land agencies in the Southeast and Southwest, as well as at Clair Tappan Lodge in California, which is owned by the Sierra Club.
 
Special Achievement Awards (for a single act of importance dedicated to conservation or the Sierra Club): Kathy Lacey of Abington, Pa., Richard Mabion of Kansas City, Kan., and the Sierra Club’s Clean Air Team. Lacey started the Sierra Club Terrapin Nesting Project in New Jersey, Mabion organized the Kansas Chapter’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program, and the Clean Air Team has filed dozens of lawsuits against polluting industries while at the same time pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to do its job when it comes to regulating polluters.
 
Special Service Awards (for strong and consistent commitment to conservation over an extended period of time): Jim Sconyers of Terra Alta, W.Va., and Dwight Adams of Gainesville, Fla. Sconyers has been a leader in the Club’s West Virginia Chapter and Adams has been a leader in the Club’s Florida Chapter.
 

2012 Winners

SAN FRANCISCO – Twenty-eight “Modern-Day Muirs” received national awards from the Sierra Club this year. The awards were presented at a ceremony held in San Francisco Aug. 4.

The Club’s top award, the John Muir Award, went to Don Parks, an environmental activist from Redmond, Wash., who has helped secure protection for numerous acres of wild lands in Washington State over the past 40 years. Among the areas Parks has helped protect is the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, one of America’s most visited wilderness areas. Parks is considered by many to be one of the premier experts on the Alpine Lakes region.

Another top award, the William E. Colby Award, went to Kenneth Langton of Tucson, Ariz. Langton  chairs the Club’s Grand Chapter and has served on three national governance committees for the Sierra Club. Langton also has been a strong supporter of Saguaro National Park in southern Arizona.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood received the club’s Edgar Wayburn Award,which honors outstanding service to the environment by a person in government. Secretary LaHood has presided over  historic increases in fuel economy standards, which will reach 49.6 miles per gallon in 2025. He also has championed a transportation system that will reduce our dependence on oil by promoting alternatives such as biking, walking and livable communities.

Dale Schultz, a state senator from Wisconsin, received the Distinguished Achievement Award, which honors persons in public service for a particular action of singular importance to conservation. In 2012, Schultz was the lone Republican to vote against two pieces of anti-environmental legislation that came up in the state legislative session. One of the bills he voted against would have made sweeping changes to Wisconsin mining law, enabling a company called Gogebic Taconite (GTac) to create an open pit taconite mine in the headwaters of the Bad River Watershed in northern Wisconsin and dump its toxic mine wastes into wetlands and streams immediately adjacent to the open pit. The Bad River is an irreplaceable cultural and subsistence resource for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, who rely on it for fish, wild rice and other resources.  

Jeff Goodell, author of the 2006 book Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future,  received the David R. Brower Award, which recognizes outstanding environmental reporting. Goodell is now a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, and his stories on energy and the environment also have been featured in The New RepublicThe Washington PostThe New York Times Magazine and Wired. Goodell also is the author of the 2011 book, How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate.

The club’s Ansel Adams Award, which honors excellence in conservation photography, went to Florian Schultz, a native of Germany who has spent the past 10 years photographing wilderness areas in North America. Schultz has published two books −Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam, which documents the Yellowstone to Yukon wildlife corridor, and To The Arctic, which is the official companion book to the IMAX film of the same name.

The Club’s William O. Douglas Award, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding use of the legal/judicial process to achieve environmental goals, went to Robert Wiygul of Ocean Springs, Miss. Wiygul has represented the Club on an array of legal fronts in the Gulf Coast area, from its response to the BP oil disaster, to litigation challenging regulations that would allow drilling off the coast of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Wiygul recently scored a major victory for the Sierra Club in the Mississippi Supreme Court, which reversed the Public Service Commission’s approval to construct the new Kemper County coal plant. 

The Club’s EarthCare Award, which honors an individual, organization, or agency that has made a unique contribution to international environmental protection and conservation, went to Barbara Bramble, senior program advisor for the National Wildlife Federation’s International Affairs Department. Bramble has built international citizen campaigns to reform the environmental and social policies of international financial institutions such as the World Bank, and to advocate for international trade agreements that promote sustainable development. Bramble also has helped start several important international NGOs such as the Rainforest Action Network and the Forest Stewardship Council, which promotes responsible forest management through a respected certification system for timber and other forest products. 

Others receiving 2012 Sierra Club national awards included the following:

Communication Award (honors the best use of communications by a Sierra Club group, chapter or other entity to further the Club’s mission): the West Virginia Chapter for its Marcellus Gas Campaign. 

Environmental Alliance Award (recognizes individuals or groups that have forged partnerships with other non-Sierra Club entities): Edward McArdle of Melvindale, Mich., and the Club’s Vermont Chapter. McCardle has worked with a numerous coalitions to address a wide variety of environmental concerns in Michigan and the Vermont Chapter is being recognized for the partnerships it developed for its “Our Forests Our Future” campaign.

Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award (recognizes contributions to mountaineering): Tina Bowman of Long Beach, Calif. Bowman was the first person to complete all four mountaineering lists established by the various outings sections or committees of the Angeles Chapter. She also served as Chair of the Club’s Mountaineering Oversight Committee from 2005 to 2010.

Joseph Barbosa Earth Fund Award (recognizes a Sierra Club member under the age of 30): Joseph Manning of Chestnut Hill, Mass. Manning has been chair of the Sierra Student Coalition’s Executive Committee since 2011 and has represented the Club at three international climate change summits. The Sierra Student Coalition will receive $500 in recognition of this award.

Madelyn Pyeatt Award (recognizes work with youth): Nicole Veltre-Luton of Shadyside, Md. Veltre-Luton chairs the Club’s Baltimore Inner City Outings program, which will receive $500 in recognition of this award.

Oliver Kehrlein Award (for outstanding service to the Sierra Club’s outings program):Helena Coughlin of Sparks, Nev.  Coughlin has served as Outings Chair for the Club’s Great Basin Group since 2000.

One-Club Award (honors Sierra Club members who have used outings as a way to protect or improve public lands, instill an interest in conservation, increase membership in the Sierra Club, or increase awareness of the Sierra Club): Didi Toaspern of Chico, Calif. Toaspern has been Chair of the Club’s National Outings Service Subcommittee since 2001. 

Raymond J. Sherwin International Award (honors extraordinary volunteer service toward international conservation): Richard Ball of Annandale, Va. Ball was the lead author on the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) first and second assessment reports dealing with climate change impacts on energy and industry. 

Special Achievement Awards (for a single act of importance dedicated to conservation or the Sierra Club): The Alamo Group in San Antonio, the Chicago Group’s Air & Water Committee, and Kathy Little of Louisville, Ky. Little played a pivotal role inLouisville Gas & Electric’s decision to close its coal-fired Cane Run plant and convert it to natural gas and the Chicago Group’s Air & Water Committee pushed the City of Chicago to retire two of the oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the nation. The Alamo Group has worked with San Antonio’s city-owned utility, CPS Energy, to transform it from a secretive, conventional energy giant to a national leader in clean energy and green jobs creation. 

Special Service Awards
 (for strong and consistent commitment to conservation over an extended period of time): Linda Bremer of Jacksonville, Fla.; James Kotcon of Morgantown, W. Va.; and Elizabeth Little of Hillsboro, W. Va. Bremer has spent 25 years working to protect Florida’s rivers and springs; Kotcon has been at the forefront of citizen organizing and lobbying to get the West Virginia Legislature to pass adequate regulations to protect water and air quality from degradation by gas drilling and coal-fired power plants; and Little has spent more than 25 years working to protect the Monongahela National Forest.  

Susan E. Miller Award (honors administrative contributions to Sierra Club groups, chapters and regional entities): Bob Cates of Chatsworth Calif.; John Spahr of Jackson, Wyo.; and Wallace Taylor and Pam Mackey-Taylor of Marion, Ia. Cates has held a variety of administrative positions in the Club’s Angeles Chapter, including serving as Chapter historian. Spahr has given more than 20 of service to the Teton Group and the Wyoming Chapter as well as several of the Club’s regional committees and campaigns. The Taylors both have held a variety of leadership positions within the Club’s Iowa Chapter.

Walter Starr Award (Honors continuing service to the Sierra Club by a former member of the Board of Directors): Marilyn Wall of Cincinnati, Ohio. Since serving on the Board from 2006-2009, Wall has continued to contribute to the Club at both the local and national level, including serving as Chair of the Club’s Miami Group.

 

2011 Winners

 SIERRA CLUB ANNOUNCES 2011 NATIONAL AWARDS

Honorees include leading environmentalist Bill McKibben, Congressman Edward Markey, Congressman Keith Ellison, conservation photographer Ian Shive, New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert and others

 

SAN FRANCISCO – Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and world-renowned environmental activist, will conclude his global day of action by accepting the Sierra Club’s highest honor, the John Muir Award.  A worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis, Moving Planet on September 24th exemplifies McKibben’s efforts to organize local efforts into a global movement.

 McKibben inspired and mobilized a generation to fight climate change, translating the complex issues of greenhouse gas emissions in to one simple number: 350.  According to McKibben, “To preserve our planet, scientists tell us we must reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from its current level of 392 parts per million (ppm) to below 350 ppm.  But 350 is more than a number—it's a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.”

 In addition to his work as an international environmental leader, McKibben has authored 13 books. His 1989 book, The End of Nature, is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has been printed in more than 20 languages.  In 2010 the Boston Globe called him “probably the nation’s leading environmentalist” andTime magazine described him as “the world’s best green journalist.”

 Sierra Club Board President Robin Mann said this of McKibben: "It's my great pleasure to present Bill McKibben with the Sierra Club's highest honor--the John Muir Award--on the evening of his Global Day of Action. Activists like Bill McKibben exemplify the very essence of the Sierra Club's mission. People working together can change the world. John Muir believed it. Bill McKibben and the 1.4 million members and supporters of Sierra Club live it."

 Congressman Ed Markey from Massachusetts is receiving the club’s Edgar Wayburn Awardwhich honors outstanding service to the environment by a person in government. Since being elected to Congress in 1976, Rep. Markey has been at the forefront of environmental campaigns, pressing for increased fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, defending the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from proposed oil drilling, pushing for tougher clean air standards, advancing renewable energy and energy efficiency proposals, and authoring legislation to tackle global warming.

 Congressman Keith Ellison from Minneapolis is receiving the Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes individuals in public service for strong and consistent commitment to conservation. Rep. Ellison has been a strong supporter of the environment and environmental justice since was in the Minnesota state legislature. He has carried forward legislation to protect children from lead poisoning and to ban the use of atrazine, the weed-killing agricultural pesticide, due to its documented toxicity.

 Roderick Bremby, the former secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, is receiving the Distinguished Achievement Award, which honors persons in public service for a particular action of singular importance to conservation. In 2007, Bremby was the first public official ever to deny a permit for a coal plant solely on the basis of its greenhouse gas emissions.

 Elizabeth Kolbert, a former New York Times reporter who now writes for the New Yorker, is receiving the David R. Brower Award, which recognizes outstanding environmental reporting. Kolbert’s 2006 book Field Notes from a Catastrophe, which was based on an award-winning three-part series for the New Yorker, is one of the most powerful commentaries to date on global climate shift. 

 The club’s Ansel Adams Award, which honors excellence in conservation photography, is going to Ian Shive of Los Angeles, Calif. Shive’s 2009 book, The National Parks: Our American Landscape, highlights the rich diversity of the American ecological landscape and Shive has used it in a “wilderness diplomacy” project designed to promote cultural understanding worldwide by sharing images of America’s national parks. Shive also has used his photos to remind lawmakers of the importance of preserving our outdoor resources and to address the environmental impact of the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

 The club’s William Douglas Award, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding use of the legal/judicial process to achieve environmental goals, is going to Sharon Duggan of Oakland, Calif. Duggan has litigated on a broad variety of issues, including state and federal forestry, water quality, endangered species and environmental quality. She is perhaps best known for her work on a series of cases involving the ancient redwood groves of the Headwaters Forest in Northern California. In a landmark 1983 case known as EPIC vs. Johnson, Duggan established that California state agencies must consider the cumulative effects of logging in a watershed on water quality, soils and wildlife habitat when reviewing logging plans. Since this victory, the Environmental Protection Information Center in Humboldt County has successfully enforced this ruling in nearly two dozen lawsuits to protect biodiversity, endangered species and the redwood ecosystem.

The club’s highest honor for administrative work, the William E. Colby Award, is going to Edwina Allen of Boise, Idaho. Allen has been involved with the Sierra Club for more than 40 years. She helped establish the Club’s Idaho Chapter and helped earn wilderness designation for Idaho’s Owyhee Canyonlands.

 Others receiving 2011 Sierra Club awards include the following:

 Communication Award (honors the best use of communications [either print or electronic] by a Sierra Club group, chapter or other entity to further the Club’s mission): Ivy Main and the Virginia Chapter. The chapter has made videos on a variety of subjects to help interest people in its work.

 EarthCare Award (honors an individual, organization, or agency that has made a unique contribution to international environmental protection and conservation): Maude Barlow of Ottawa, Canada. Barlow is the head of the Council of Canadians − Canada’s largest public advocacy organization − and founder of the Blue Planet Project, which was started by the Council to protect the world’s fresh water from the growing threats of trade and privatization. She is the author or co-author of 16 books, including the best-selling 2007 book Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water, which some have called “the most important book that’s ever been written on the global water crisis.”

 Environmental Alliance Award (recognizes individuals or groups that have forged partnerships with other non-Sierra Club entities): Carol Adams-Davis of Mobile, Ala. Adams-Davis has partnered with other environmental groups on a variety of environmental issues along the Gulf of Mexico, including recovery from the BP oil spill.

 Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award (recognizes contributions to mountaineering): Royal Robbins of Modesto, Calif. Robbins is a pioneer in American rock climbing and an early proponent of boltless, pitonless clean climbing. He is the author of two classic books on rock climbing.

 Joseph Barbosa Earth Fund Award (recognizes a Sierra Club member under the age of 30): Victoria Pan of Ridgewood, N.J. Pan has created a web site at studentssavingenergy.org that shows students how they can launch energy-saving initiatives at their schools. Pan’s Sierra Club chapter in New Jersey will receive $500 in recognition of this award.

 Madelyn Pyeatt Award (recognizes work with youth): Anne Carroll of Arlington, Mass. Carroll has been chair of the Boston Inner City Outings program since 2004. The Boston ICO group will receive $500 in recognition of this award.

 Oliver Kehrlein Award (for outstanding service to the Sierra Club’s outings program):Marjorie Richman of North Bethesda, Md. Richman has been leading local and national outings for the Club since 1980.

 Raymond J. Sherwin International Award (honors extraordinary volunteer service toward international conservation): Michael Gregory of McNeal, Ariz. Gregory has spent more than 28 years working on national and international toxics issues such as the regulation of Persistent Organic Pesticides (POPs).

 Special Achievement Awards (for a single act of importance dedicated to conservation or the Sierra Club): Clayton Daughenbaugh of Berwyn, Ill.; Charles Price of Richmond, Va.; and Lonnie Morris of Lombard, Ill. Daughenbaugh is being honored for his work with the Club’s Activist Network Support Team; Price is being recognized for his efforts to establish the Cannon Creek Greenway through inner-city neighborhoods in Richmond, Va.; and Morris is being honored for her work with the Cool Cities program in Illinois.

 Special Service Awards (for strong and consistent commitment to conservation over an extended period of time): Rev. Robert F. Murphy of Cataumet, Mass.; Jane Clarkof Des Moines, Iowa; and Ken Brame of Leicester, N.C. Murphy has been active with the Sierra Club for more than 40 years, particularly on issues related to human rights and environmental justice. Clark has served twice as Iowa Chapter Chair, many years as Chapter Conservation Co-chair and for the past 10 years as Chair of the Central Iowa Sierra Group. Brame has been involved with the Sierra Club’s political program for 25 years. 

 Susan E. Miller Award (honors administrative contributions to Sierra Club groups, chapters and regional entities): Steve Kulick of Syracuse, N.Y.; Marian Ryan of Winter Haven, Fla.; and the Club’s Chapter Treasurer Assistance Support Team. Kulick has served as treasurer of the Club’s Atlantic Chapter since 1986 and Ryan has served the Florida Chapter in a variety of administrative capacities. The Chapter Treasurer Assistance Support Team has worked with chapter treasurers to help them complete their annual financial reporting requirements in a timely fashion and migrate to QuickBooks Online.

 Walter Starr Award (Honors continuing service to the Sierra Club by a former member of the Board of Directors): Glen Dawson of Pasadena, Calif. Dawson, who is 99, was selected for his many years of work with the Angeles Chapter’s History Committee.

 

2010 Winners

SAN FRANCISCO – The Obama administration’s new EPA administrator, a congressman who has a long

record of advocating for environmental protection and a photographer who help helped raise awareness of
overconsumption are among those receiving awards from the Sierra Club this year.
 
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is receiving the club’s Edgar Wayburn Award, which honors
outstanding service to the environment by a person in government.
“In her first year, Administrator Jackson has established herself as the most consequential and effective EPA
Administrator since William Ruckelshaus launched the agency,” said Sierra Club President Robin Mann.
“She has reversed in a little over a year the overwhelming majority of the anti-public health and
environmental regulations left in place by eight years of Bush appointees. New health standards have been
established for conventional air pollutants; the agency had moved aggressively to begin carrying out the
Supreme Court decision that the Clean Air Act requires regulations of greenhouse gasses; important
progress has been made in establishing stringent restrictions on pollution from mountaintop removal
mining; and the federal program to regulate commercial chemicals, which had been long ignored and
languishing, is beginning to move forward again.”
 
Norman Dicks, a congressman from Bremerton, Wash., is receiving the Distinguished Service Award,
which recognizes individuals in public service for strong and consistent commitment to conservation. Dicks
has represented Washington’s 6th Congressional District since 1976 and has used his position on the Interior
Appropriations Subcommittee to pass several key pieces of environmental legislation, including a landmark
bill that created a new federal lands conservation trust.
 
Chris Jordan of Seattle, Wash., is receiving the Ansel Adams Award, which honors excellence in
conservation photography. His latest book, Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait, brings to life
through photography some of the startling statistics related to American consumerism − statistics such as the
fact that 1 million trees are cut down every year and 2 million plastic bottles are used every five minutes.
 
Jeff Biggers, author of the 2010 book Reckoning at Eagle Creek, is receiving the David R. Brower Award,
which recognizes outstanding environmental reporting or editorial comment that contributes to a better
understanding of environmental issues. Biggers writes extensively on issues related to coal mining and is a
regular contributor to the Huffington Post, Grist and Salon.com.
 
The Club’s top award, the John Muir Award, is going to Dick Fiddler of Shoreline, Wash., who has
provided outstanding conservation leadership for the Sierra Club at the chapter, regional and national levels
for more than 40 years.
The Club’s highest honor for administrative work, the William E. Colby Award, will go to Doris
Cellarius of Prescott, Ariz., who also has been an active Club leader for more than 40 years at the group,
chapter, national and international levels.
 
Others receiving 2010 Sierra Club awards include the following:
 
EarthCare Award (Honors an individual, organization, or agency that has made a unique contribution to
international environmental protection and conservation): Anna Rose of Sydney, Australia. Rose founded
the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, which has been a major partner with the Sierra Student Coalition in
its efforts to build an international youth climate movement.
 
Environmental Alliance Award (recognizes individuals or groups that have forged partnerships with other
non-Sierra Club entities): Jose Menendez of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Menendez partnered with other
organizations to create a ecotourism micro enterprise that has helped nearly 200 fishermen support their
families.
 
Ida and Denny Wilcher Award (recognizes outstanding achievement in membership development and/or
fundraising): The Sierra Club Puerto Rico Chapter, which has recruited 1,300 new members since it was
established in 2005.
 
Joseph Barbosa Earth Fund Award (recognizes a club member under the age of 30): Members of the
Washington University Climate Justice Alliance. This group has worked to educate their fellow students and
the general public about the hidden costs of “clean coal.” The award includes a $500 prize that they will use
to defray the costs of a four-day symposium titled “Global Energy Future” that is being held at Washington
University next month.
 
Madelyn Pyeatt Award (recognizes work with youth): Matt Nelson of Tucson, Ariz., and Chris Bachman
of Spokane Valley, Wash. Both have worked with the Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings program in their
communities. Their local ICO groups will each receive $250 to continue their outreach.
 
Oliver Kehrlein Award (for outstanding service to the club’s outings program): Susan Estes of Richmond,
Calif. Estes is a national outings leader for the Sierra Club.
 
One Club Award (honors club members who have used outings as a way to protect or improve public
lands, instill an interest in conservation, increase membership in the Sierra Club, or increase awareness of
the Sierra Club: Norma McCallan of Santa Fe, N.M. McCallan has sponsored outings and hikes to
introduce policymakers and activists to several areas in New Mexico that are worth protecting.
 
Raymond J. Sherwin International Award (honors extraordinary volunteer service toward international
conservation): Larry Williams of Washington, D.C. Williams has served as chair of the Club’s
International Committee and has particular expertise on international banks and the environment.
 
Special Achievement Awards (for a single act of importance dedicated to conservation or the Sierra Club):
Lisa Cox of Beaufort, N.C., and Lynn Ryan of Arcata, Calif. Cox served as chair of the club’s Chapter
Fundraising Task Force and Ryan helped secure passage of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage
Act, which became law in 2006.
 
Special Service Awards (for strong and consistent commitment to conservation over an extended period of
time): David Dow of East Falmouth, Mass.; Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera of San Juan, Puerto Rico; Barry
Kohl of New Orleans, La.; Martin Mador of Hamden, Conn.; and James Rickard of Afton, Minn. Dow
has been involved with issues ranging from the cleanup of the Massachusetts Military Superfund Site to
offshore renewable energy and ocean and fisheries management. Herrera is working to save a strip of
coastal land in Puerto Rico known as the Northeast Ecological Corridor. Kohl has worked to reduce levels
of mercury in Louisiana and has been an important science advisor to the Sierra Club and others on the
consequences of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Mador has worked with other environmental
organizations to further the Connecticut Chapter’s legislative agenda. Rickard has been a spokesperson for
protection of the St. Croix River, which serves as a natural boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin.
 
Susan E. Miller Award (honors administrative contributions to Sierra Club groups, chapters and regional
entities): The Angeles Chapter GIS Committee and Betsy Grass of Miami, Fla. The GIS Committee has
provided computer-based mapping to support Angeles Chapter conservation and political efforts. Grass has
been active in the Miami Group and the Florida Chapter for 35 years.
 
Most awards will be presented Sept. 25 during the Sierra Club’s Annual Dinner in San Francisco.