Lennie Roberts, Legislative Advocate for the Committee for Green Foothills, San Mateo County, will be honored with our Environmental Hero award at Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter’s Guardians of Nature Benefit Party, October 1, 2016.
Lennie has over three decades of dedicated effort on behalf of preserving hills, open spaces, and wild habitats in San Mateo County, and is well known and well respected by all in the environmental community. As Julia Bott, retired Executive Director at San Mateo County Parks Foundation notes: “Lennie knows everybody, and she is tremendously respected by all. She is skilled at working with people early to incorporate environmental protections into proposals….With Lennie, many of the gains come from these behind-the- scenes efforts.”
In 1996, Roberts was an author and co-sponsor of the Devil’s Slide Tunnel Initiative (Measure T), which mandated that Caltrans either repair the existing road or construct a tunnel at Devil’s Slide instead of a devastating, growth-inducing freeway bypass. Lennie was instrumental in the successful passage of Measure T, and in March 2013, construction of the new tunnel was completed; in the following spring, the old highway along the cliffs of Devil’s Slide was opened as a multi-use non-motorized trail.
Lennie’s persistent efforts have focused on fostering productive dialogue where there is disagreement and finding creative solutions that serve both the environment and the community. Mike Ferreira, Conservation Committee Chair, Sierra Club Loma Prieta, comments: “All around us on the Peninsula are special natural places that have been saved from diminishment by the tireless efforts of Lennie Roberts over decades.”
Beginning in 1968, after joining the board of the Committee for Green Foothills, Lennie has been a tireless advocate for the protection of natural resources and open lands in the County, seamlessly melding the interests of nature, the community, and the political realities. As Walter Moore, President of Peninsula Open Space Trust says, “It is one thing to understand federal, state and local laws and regulations. It is another thing to apply them correctly to development proposals. It is a third thing to articulate this understanding and application clearly and succinctly in writing or when appearing before a governing body. The fact that Lennie is an expert at all three is why she has been such an incredibly powerful advocate for open space, farms and natural resources in San Mateo County for decades."
Mike Massara, attorney and board member of Coastal Advocates, says that Lennie Roberts is “a mentor and a continuing inspiration to all, whether you love the coast, the mountains or all the animals and habitat in between, including not just the value of those natural resources, but how to organize communities of all types to be strategic, thoughtful and effective in protecting these places for animals and people, for families and future generations. I’m just so proud to have been able to work in her shadow, and have learned so much along the way. “
It is emblematic of the respect in which Lennie Roberts is held that she has been invited to serve on so many conservation-oriented commissions. In 1972, Lennie was one of the founders of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, which has preserved over 65,000 acres of land in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties for public use, including hundreds of miles of trails. Lennie served on the Central Coast Regional Coastal Commission from 1978-80, and in 1986, she was an author and co-sponsor of Measure A, the Coastside Protection Initiative, a county-wide citizen’s initiative that mandated that 38 key policies protecting the rural lands of the San Mateo County coast.
Lennie also served for 10 years as board Chair of YosemiteNational Park Association Board of Trustees, and was one of the founders of the Yosemite Fund in 1988.
In 1986, Ms. Roberts was an author and co-sponsor of Measure A, the Coastside Protection Initiative, a county-wide citizen’s initiative that mandated 38 key policies protecting the rural lands of the San Mateo County coast.
In 1994, Roberts was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to the 18-member Citizens Advisory Commission for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) and Point Reyes National Seashore, which advises the National Park Service and Congress on management issues, including public recreation, resource protection, historic preservation, and public access to the San Francisco Bay and Coast.
In recognition of her extraordinary environmental leadership, Lennie has received numerous honors and awards. Among others, she was presented with Carla Bard Award from the Planning and Conservation League and named Conservationist of the Year by the Peninsula Conservation Center. In 2003, she was elected to the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame and has been honored as a Coastal Champion on the 25th Anniversary of the California Coastal Act. In 2009, for her thousands of hours of volunteer work towards coastal protection, she was named the San Francisco Bay Area's Cox Conserves Hero.
Currently, as a full-time volunteer for the Committee for Green Foothills (CGF), a regional conservation organization, Lennie Roberts has served as CGF’s Legislative Advocate for San Mateo County since 1978.
We hope you will join us October 1st in Shoup Park, Los Altos, in honoring the extraordinary achievements of Lennie Roberts, characterized by San Mateo County Supervisor Don Horsley as “Perhaps the most widely respected, knowledgeable and successful advocate for environmental issues impacting the Bay Area.”