Florida Chapter

(Presented in 2025)

Every year, Florida Sierra Club solicits nominations for deserving members, supporters and community organizations to be recognized for their work in support of the mission and goals of the Sierra Club. For 2024, the following people are being recognized. 

Steve Leidner - Panther Award - Miami Group
The Panther Award is given to a group member who has done outstanding conservation work on a project within the Group’s area. Steve has been involved in many conservation projects as Conservation Chair for the Miami Group. He regularly attends the Everglades Coalition meetings to learn, inform others, and help protect the River of Grass. Regionally, he organized a symposium related to Biscayne Bay, helped to stop the building of an industrial warehouse on farmland and the building of a marina in a critical marine sanctuary, and actively fought a theme park in the environmentally sensitive area on the Pine Rocklands. Steve is now leading the effort to fight a replacement waste-to-energy incinerator project.    

Ryan Smart - Cypress Award - Suwannee-St. Johns Group
The Cypress Award is given to an individual who has contributed greatly to the public’s environmental awareness in his or her locale or Florida as a whole. A respected Florida water policy expert and lobbyist,  Ryan’s leadership as Executive Director of the Florida Springs Council (FSC) has been instrumental in educating the public, statewide environmental organizations, and bringing national attention to our Floridan aquifer, endangered springs and spring-fed river ecosystem.  Ryan took the helm at FSC in 2018, after having served as the Director of the Florida Conservation Coalition and President of 1000 Friends of Florida.

Candice Rue - Cypress Award - Northeast Group
Candice has been active for many years in the Northeast Group. She has helped with developing program ideas and has led educational outings of all kinds. She took charge of regular trash cleanups on the Group’s FDOT-assigned stretch of Heckscher Dr., which is the corridor of A1A on the barrier Islands of Jacksonville, including Huguenot Park and Talbot Islands State Parks. She can always be found in the trenches gathering signatures for conservation policy initiatives or tabling at environmental festivals. She also is a dogged campaigner for endorsed political candidates at the local and state level.

Liz Smith - Cypress Award - Northeast Group
Liz formed the Fish Island Community Alliance nonprofit one day while reading about a proposed development in her local newspaper. Fish Island is an environmentally sensitive area in the St Augustine area. She got to work to oppose the development, and finally she and her group got the City Commission to halt the project. These days her Alliance educates folks on the value of this area through hikes and talks. She is a tireless fundraiser for environmental causes and continues to oppose development in fragile ecosystems.

Brynn Newton - Oak Leaf - Volusia-Flagler Group
The Oak Leaf Award is a special achievement award for environmental work. Brynn Newton is considered one of the pioneers of the environmental movement in the Volusia-Flagler Group area, and has been a force for advancing environmental policies over the years. In the 1970s, she helped oppose development in the sensitive ecosystem of the Tomoka Basin contiguous to Tomoka State Park. With the Nature Conservancy, she was able to get most of the 5,000 acre property eventually to be bought by the State, and today it is a major part of the Bulow Creek State Park. 

During the 1980s, through the Environmental Council of Volusia & Flagler counties (ECVF), she worked with Sierra Club to help quash the Ponce Inlet Port, which would have wiped out a significant portion of estuarine wetlands at the Inlet. Brynn was appointed to the Volusia Charter Review Commission, and through it, has protected environmentally sensitive areas, with tools such as minimum standards for environmental protection for beaches and waterways, stormwater management and species protection, as well as growth management plans. 

The ECVF supported a first-in-the-nation local bond issue to fund acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands. Over the years, this has led to the purchase of thousands of acres and added to a wildlife corridor. These public lands now include, Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve, Lake George Forest and Wildlife Management Area, to name a few. And since she has instituted a similar program in Flagler County, they now have the 3,000-acre Graham Swamp and the 1,500 acre Princess Place Preserve.

Linda Thompson Gonzalez- Pine Tree Award- Broward Group
The Pine Tree award is a special award for Group leadership in any of the following areas: management, inspiration and encouragement of volunteers, fundraising, membership. Linda has been a  member of Sierra Club since 2020, and in that time, she has helped in the Broward Group in many capacities. Recently she stepped up to be the Group’s Political Chair in the midst of a busy election year.  Her committee and the Group were able to endorse 34 candidates and 30 were elected! An attorney and a former Assistant Inspector General for the US Department of State, Linda has also been a Senior Diplomat for 14 years in South America, providing her with skills and expertise to influence people and get her goals accomplished. 

Elisa Jones- Manatee Award- Broward Group
The Manatee Award honors a Group member who has done an outstanding job of service to the Group. Elisa lives what she preaches. She has served in a variety of committees in the Group and recently stepped up to be Vice Chair of her Group at a critical time, and has already contributed to new ideas, changes and projects for the Group. As an advocate for like-minded environmental, diversity and social justice issues, she organized an “Eco-Afternoon” in January, where attendees will hear of the Group’s 2025 agenda in addressing the climate crisis. A true nature lover, she grows native plants in her yard, and as a Florida Master Gardener, removes invasive species from common areas. She has even started her own environmental education and project services consultancy business.

Max Chesnes - Indigo Award - Suncoast Group
The Indigo Award is presented to a writer/journalist who provides balanced reports on Florida’s environmental issues. Max Chesnes covers Environment and Climate for the Tampa Bay Times. Throughout 2024, Max has written in-depth, compelling and fact-driven articles on topics ranging from water quality and red tide outbreaks, to the impacts of climate change and unchecked development in Florida’s fragile ecosystems. His work inspires actions for scientists and activists to share solutions. Max “exemplifies the spirit of Sierra Club” through his tenacious reporting.

Colleen Wright - Indigo Award - Suncoast Group
Colleen Wright also writes for the Tampa Bay Times. She has reported on a variety of complex topics and been able to distill environmental issues into understandable narratives. She has covered the impact of pollution on vulnerable communities, advocated for green infrastructure to mitigate flood risk and urban heat islands, investigated unregulated coastal development, and highlighted climate change impacts, including sea level rise and extreme weather events, thus elevating the voices of those who want to safeguard Florida’s natural heritage. Her work encourages practical solutions and is a “shining example of how thoughtful reporting can advance the principles of sustainability, resiliency, and justice.”

Be sure to check our Campfire Outings & Events List below to see a complete listing of events, including meetings, around the state.