Our chapter & partners has been awarded 3 national awards from Sierra Club this year! Please join us in celebrating these acknowledgements for all the hard work our volunteer leaders and community partners have been doing here in Idaho. Stay tuned for more formal announcements and promotions from National Sierra Club, and check out the virtual award celebration event on Wednesday, October 8th—register here now. Congrats to everyone listed below, and THANK YOU for all you do for our environment and communities in Idaho!
Edgar Wayburn Environmental Champion Award
Recipient: Chairman Shannon Wheeler, Nez Perce Tribe
Award Description: The Sierra Club’s top award for persons in public service who have championed environmental causes. The award honors the late Dr. Edgar Wayburn, a five-term president of the Sierra Club, champion of public lands and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Appreciations from our team: Chairman Wheeler is incredibly deserving of this award. He has been an outstanding leader in Idaho and around the country when it comes to advocating for dam breaching to save the Northwest’s sacred and iconic salmon from extinction. He has also helped guide the Nez Perce Tribe to be one of the leading Tribes in the country on climate action and clean energy, now with its own Tribal-owned utility and numerous solar projects on the Reservation. Chairman Wheeler has been at the forefront of these efforts for years, and as Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe’s Executive Committee he has elevated these issues to be top priorities for the Tribe, with incredibly successful and historic results.
Chairman Wheeler has fostered significant progress on pressing environmental issues in our region, and we wouldn’t be here without his leadership. As he now kicks off his next 3-year term as Chairman, facing the unprecedented threats and challenges that are here and lie ahead, we want to show him how much we—as a chapter and in the climate movement as a whole—appreciate all he has done and will undoubtedly continue to do for his people and for our planet.
Emerging Changemaker Award
Recipient: Sayed Bahauddin Mirbacha, Climate Justice League Youth Leader
Award Description: Recognizes young Sierra Club volunteers who represent the next generation of environmental leaders. Includes an award of up to $500 to further the work of the recipient(s).
Appreciations from our team: Sayed has been one of our longest standing youth leaders in the Idaho Climate Justice League (CJL) youth group, consistently showing up since the summer of 2022. Sayed continues to be actively involved in our work, even amidst his busy college student schedule and numerous other community leadership roles.
Sayed joined CJL soon after arriving in the United States as a refugee from Afghanistan. He came to one of our events at a local park, speaking minimal English, but showing a strong interest in environmental conservation and wanting to make a difference in his community. Ever since then, he’s been one of our most dedicated and reliable members, and has grown into an incredible community organizer overall.
Over the years, Sayed has attended and helped lead countless CJL meetings, rallies, public hearings, art builds, press conferences, community gatherings, and more. He’s testified at hearings, spoken at rallies, talked to the press, and does so much more as a volunteer behind the scenes as well. He’s someone we can always count on, and someone we’re fortunate to call a volunteer, a community partner, and a friend. His perseverance as a human being and as a young movement leader is truly remarkable and deserving of recognition.
Emerging Changemaker Award
Recipient: Gwendolyn Spring, Climate Justice League Youth Leader
Award Description: Recognizes young Sierra Club volunteers who represent the next generation of environmental leaders. Includes an award of up to $500 to further the work of the recipient(s).
Appreciations from our team: Gwendolyn joined CJL in the spring of 2024, and we were immediately impressed with Gwendolyn’s enthusiasm and initiative—she jumped right in and became one of our most reliable team members. She has only continued to impress us with her leadership, creativity, ingenuity, and compassion.
After just a couple months of being involved, Gwendolyn was invited to join the leadership team for Climate Justice League. With her consistent attendance, enthusiasm, and leadership, it seemed like a great fit—and it was. Gwendolyn helped with facilitating group meetings, took a lead role in applying for a City of Boise Youth Climate Action Fund grant (which we were awarded to paint our community solar mural), and served on the student planning committee for SPROG (Sierra Club Summer Program), an intensive organizing summer training program for youth across the West last July. To top it all off, Gwendolyn is a skilled public speaker and has spoken at or MCed various group events, inspiring others in our community to take action.
From planning breakout groups to improving group discussions, she is always thinking about how to engage students so they’re not only investing in the activism work, but also connecting with each other. Additionally, she finds ways we can continuously improve, and makes those suggestions heard, showing how much she is dedicated to the future of the group. We are so lucky to be able to recognize the excellence and leadership of this young person in our movement with this award.