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Paying Tribute To Environmental Heroes
Teamwork. That’s how wilderness is saved. But teams need leaders, and The
Wilderness Society believes in honoring those citizens who have gone above and
beyond in their efforts to protect America’s wildlands and wildlife. Over the past
year, we have presented the following awards:
© Mark Silva
Former Secretary of the
Interior Bruce Babbitt
received our Ansel Adams
Award, presented to a
current or former federal
official who has shown
exceptional commitment
to conservation and the
fostering of an American land
ethic. “Bruce is a visionary
who, as Arizona’s governor
and later as interior secretary,
compiled a sterling record,”
said William H. Meadows,
president of The Wilderness
Society. “He capped his
government service with
the establishment of the
26-million-acre National
Landscape Conservation
System.”
A decade of work to help
make this system successful
is a major reason why
Hansjörg Wyss received
the Robert Marshall Award,
The Wilderness Society’s
highest honor for a private
citizen. “Hansjörg and the
Wyss Foundation have
worked tirelessly to protect
America’s natural heritage,
particularly in the Rockies,”
Meadows said. “Though
he is largely unknown to
the American people, his
© Mark Silva
© Robin Sell, BLM
Bruce Babbitt Hansjörg Wyss Roy Smith Lauren Oakes
generosity is going to make
a difference for generations
to come.” Wyss has been a
member of our Governing
Council since 1993.
The Olaus and Margaret
Murie Award honors frontline
state or federal land
management employees, or
any “young environmentalists,”
especially those who
are innovative and have
taken risks to promote the
principles of natural resource
conservation. The 2011
recipient was Roy Smith,
the key water staffer with
the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) in
Colorado. “Water is undoubtedly
the most contentious
environmental issue
in this state,” said Suzanne
Jones, who directs our work
in Colorado, “and ensuring
the flow of water to wilderness
is critically important.
Roy has been extraordinarily
effective in making this
happen for the Dominguez
Canyon Wilderness and BLM
lands across the state—and
amazingly, does so in a
manner that brings people
together.”
Steve Scauzillo of the San
Gabriel Valley Newspapers
received the Aldo Leopold
Award for Distinguished
Editorial Writing. Meadows
praised him as “a steadfast
voice asking why a road
must be built through a
state park and what we will
lose when a grove of 200
oaks and sycamores—more
than a century old—are cut
down. He has dared the
public to dream of a national
recreation area that includes
the San Gabriel River in
L.A.’s urban backyard.”
The Gloria Barron
Wilderness Society
Scholarship was awarded to
Lauren E. Oakes for
her proposed research on
climate change’s impact
on yellow cedar in Alaska’s
coastal rain forest. A native
of Stamford, Connecticut,
who graduated from Brown
University, Oakes is a Ph.D.
student at Stanford. “This
scholarship aims to find the
Aldo Leopolds and Rachel
Carsons of the future,”
says Tom Barron, an author
and long-time member of
our Governing Council. He
established the fellowship
Elise Kahl, Melissa Rickert,
Meagan Leatherbury
Steve Scauzillo
to honor his mother, who
was a dedicated educator
and tireless advocate for
wilderness.
Three University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point
graduate students received
Gaylord Nelson Earth Day
Fellowships in 2011. Elise
Kahl of Perrysburg, Ohio;
Meagan Leatherbury of
Avondale Estates, Georgia;
and Melissa Rickert of
Rhinelander, Wisconsin,
were recognized for making
significant contributions to
promoting conservation
ethics and environmental
education, and for exhibiting
future leadership potential
in the field of environmental
education. We initiated
these fellowships in 1990 to
honor Earth Day’s founder,
former U.S. Senator from
Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson,
long-time counselor of The
Wilderness Society, who
died in 2005.
60 1-800-THE-WILD
© Steve Menzel/UWSP