Hood Canal council names winners of environmental awards – Watching Our Waterways

Awards and recognition for citizens getting together to fix environmental problems in their area of Hood Canal. Congratulations people. You are doing good work!

Beards Cove Community Organization and Newberry Hill Heritage Park Stewards are this year’s winners of the Hood Canal Environmental Achievement Awards. The awards, sponsored by the Hood Canal Coordinating Council, recognize people and groups that have taken actions and fostered relationships to improve the health of the Hood Canal environment. Chris Dunagan writes. (Watching Our Water Ways)

http://pugetsoundblogs.com/waterways/2015/11/01/hood-canal-council-names-winners-of-environmental-awards/

‘Bag Monster’ conservation leader recognized with Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award in Port Townsend – PDN

Jude Rubin has been awarded the Eleanor Stopps Environmental Award. Eleanor was once named “Citizen of the Century” by Jefferson County, the only person ever to receive that title, for her tireless work to protect Protection Island. The Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award is awarded annually to a citizen of the North Olympic Peninsula (Jefferson and Clallam Counties) who has: 1. Led a successful resource conservation effort that benefits the north Olympic Peninsula and its residents directly. 2. Acted as a community catalyst for programs, initiatives or ventures that demonstrate a commitment to the future of the earth and its biodiversity 3. Become a model for future leaders, educators, or has been an exemplary citizen or policy maker who has implemented decisions that, through they may entail risks, help our communities take the next step towards environmental sustainability.

Jude took on the very difficult issue of banning plastic bags in Port Townsend, which has been a source of landfill garbage and also a product that finds it’s way into waterways around the world. Jude’s humor and character “the bag monster” brought home the issue in a non threatening way, pushed the ban over the top with voters. But she’s more than that one issue. She was the founding member of the NW Watershed Institute, and  was also the founder of Shooting Star Farm, which produces locally grown food. In 1996, she co-wrote the  Chimacum Watershed Coho Salmon Restoration Assessment (1996)

Jude as bag lady, and Janine Boire the Executive Director of the PT Marine Science Center. (photo by Al Bergstein)

Jude as bag lady, and Janine Boire the Executive Director of the PT Marine Science Center. (photo by Al Bergstein)

Over a decade ago, Jude Rubin was listening to school fund raising ideas at a parent’s meeting and thought, “If children can wash cars and sell magazine subscriptions, why not sell honorary tree cards and plant trees to raise money?” Nearly every winter since, over 150 students, teachers and parents from five local schools plant about 3,000 native trees and shrubs at salmon restoration sites prepared by Northwest Watershed Institute along Tarboo Creek. Before the planting event, Jude, in her role as Stewardship Director with Northwest Watershed Institute, meets with the children in classrooms throughout Jefferson County to help them understand the critical role that temperate rainforests play in sustaining salmon habitat. Prior to the big planting event, families sell honorary tree cards. Each card represents a tree to be planted in someone’s honor or memory. 100% of the money from the card sales goes to the schools because Jude and NWI work all year to raise grant funds and in‐kind contributions to cover the cost of the project. For many students, the Plant-­‐A-­‐Thon has served as a strong influence in their growth as environmental stewards and leaders. Thanks to the  collaborative efforts over the years led by Jude, 2015 marked the 10th annual Plant-­‐A-­‐Thon, with a total of more than 33,000 trees planted to date, well over $150,000 raised for schools, and hundreds of children and parents gaining greater appreciation for watershed ecology and environmental service.

Plantathon

Jude is also well known as the “Bag Monster.“ In 2012, she took City Hall by storm with her humor and ensured a swift approval of the groundbreaking Port Townsend plastic bag ban. In the Bag Ban effort, Jude coordinated the efforts of five partnering organizations, and stepped into the public limelight to represent the campaign as “The Bag Monster,” addressing the City Council three times in a costume made of 500 disposable bags. Partly due to Jude’s persistent approach, the plastic bag ban was implemented in just seven-­‐months – one of the fastest adoptions of a bag ban proposal by any city in the country. In costume at City Council meetings, she was a force to be reckoned with.

Jude’s was instrumental  in co-­‐ founding Northwest Watershed Institute in 2001 and serving as the Stewardship Director since 2004. Over the past eleven years she has worked effectively as a scientific researcher, project manager, visiting classroom teacher, fund-­‐raiser, and has been instrumental in NWI’s nationally recognized conservation achievements. Jude’s grant writing skills, environmental and community outreach abilities, and her knowledge as a botanist and ecologist have helped NWI and many project partners to protect and restore over 4,000 acres in the Tarboo watershed, including critical stream and wetland habitat along Tarboo Creek and in Dabob Bay. Visit http://www.nwwatershed.org for more information on the landscape scale Tarboo Watershed project and other NWI achievements. Jude’s environmental achievements are a continuation of a life long commitment to the environment.

She graduated from Brown University in 1988 with a B.S. in Environmental Studies, and earned an M.S. in 1995 as both a Switzer Fellow and an R.K Mellon Fellow through the Field Naturalist Program at the University of Vermont. In the early 1990’s Jude helped launch a highly successful organic gardening education campaign in Seattle, and later worked for the Nature Conservancy in Oregon on native plant seed banking, and then at River Network as a project manager and Senior Grant Writer. In 1996, she co-­‐authored, with Peter Bahls, the Chimacum Watershed Coho Salmon Restoration Assessment as her graduate thesis, and this work provided the scientific justification for the initial $2 million raised for Chimacum salmon habitat protection and restoration.

(By Al Bergstein and Fayette Krause)

___________________________________

Judith “Jude” Rubin, who has worked in support of a variety of environmental causes, is this year’s recipient of the Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award.  “On behalf of the many hundreds of people who collaborated on these important projects, I am deeply honored to accept this award,” Rubin, 50, said Thursday. Rubin’s selection for the 11th annual award was announced at a Wednesday breakfast at Fort Worden State Park. Charlie Bermant reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20151016/NEWS/310169961/bag-monster-conservation-leader-recognized-with-eleanor-stopps

Lowrie receives Stopps environmental award -PT Leader

Ray Lowrie was presented with the 10th annual Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award on Oct. 1.

“I had no clue that anything like this would ever happen,” said Lowrie, who taught at Chimacum School from 1960 to 1992.

About 165 people attended the Stewardship Breakfast in the Fort Worden Commons, where Lowrie was presented with the award by Janine Boire, executive director of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center (PTMSC). Attendees donated $25,160 at the breakfast, and an anonymous donor provided a $25,000 challenge match for a total of $50,160 raised, said Liesl Strabagh of the PTMSC.

http://www.ptleader.com/news/lowrie-receives-stopps-environmental-award/article_66b0939e-4e78-11e4-ab06-001a4bcf6878.html

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Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award Now Open for Nominations

If you have a person you want to nominate, please do so soon.

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center is seeking nominations for the 2014 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award. This award recognizes significant contributions in the protection and stewardship of our North Olympic Peninsula natural environment. The award pays tribute to Eleanor Stopps whose vision, advocacy and determination exemplify the power and importance of citizen leadership.

From the 1960s through the 1990s Eleanor Stopps was an active member of the NW conservation community. Eleanor founded the Admiralty Audubon Chapter and took over the work of Zella Schultz to protect the nesting habitat for 72,000 pairs of seabirds nesting on Protection Island. She was also a tireless educator working with groups of students and Girl Scouts to raise environmental awareness. Eleanor Stopps recognized the need to protect the uniquely important marine environment of theSalish Sea. With no special political base or powerful financial backers she formed a coalition of grassroots supporters who worked to get legislation and public support for protection of Protection Island and the surrounding marine waters. She was a primary driver behind the establishment of the Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge, one of the few established by an Act of

Congress at that time. Today, it is a critical habitat link in the preservation of the whole Salish Sea region, providing breeding habitat for Pigeon Guillemots and Rhinoceros Auklets Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons, Harbor Seals and Elephant Seals and a myriad of other species.

The Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award is given annually to a citizen of the North Olympic Peninsula (Jefferson and Clallam counties) who has:

 Led a successful resource conservation effort that benefits the north Olympic Peninsula and its residents directly;

 Acted as a community catalyst for programs, initiatives or ventures that demonstrate a commitment to the future of

the earth and its biodiversity;

 Become a model for future leaders in business and education; or has been an exemplary citizen or policy maker who

has implemented decisions that, though they may entail risks, have helped our communities take the next step

towards environmental sustainability.

Port Townsend Marine Science Center is pleased to sponsor this award and invites nominations so we can continue to recognize positive leadership. You may nominate someone by downloading the nomination form from http://www.ptmsc.org, info@ptmsc.org or calling (360) 385-5582 and requesting a form.

NOMINATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY EMAIL OR BE RECEIVED IN THE

PTMSC OFFICES AT FORT WORDEN BY 5:00 PM AUGUST 27

Winner(s) will be honored at the PTMSC Stewardship Breakfast at the Fort Worden Commons at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014.

Previous winners include: 2005: Katharine Baril, natural resource educator and planner Washington State University; 2006: Anne Murphy, Executive Director, Port Townsend Marine Science Center; 2007: Tom Jay and Sara Mall Johani, artists and environmentalists; 2008: Al Latham, Jefferson County Conservation District Ranger; 2009: Peter Bahls, NW Watershed Institute; 2010: Sarah Spaeth, Executive Director, Jefferson Land Trust; 2011: Dick & Marie Goins, lifelong Olympic Peninsula salmon habitat restoration activists; 2012: Judith Alexander, community catalyst for NW Earth Institute, Local 20/20, and EarthDay EveryDay; 2013:Rebecca Benjamin, Executive Director, North Olympic Salmon Coalition.

Author Tim McNulty Receives Conservation Award

Olympic Park Associate’s vice president and Olympic Peninsula author and conservation activist Tim McNulty was awarded the Karen M. Fant Award by Washington Wild at its annual dinner in November. Tim, a Sequim resident, has been involved in conservation issues on the Olympic Peninsula and statewide for most of the past 40 years. He helped add Shi Shi Beach and Point of the Arches to Olympic National Park in 1976 and worked for passage of the 1984 Washington Wilderness Act, the 1988 Washington Parks Wilderness Act, and the 1992 Elwha River Restoration Act, among other campaigns. Most recently, Tim has worked on behalf of the Wild Olympics bills now in Congress.

Tim has also been an eloquent spokesman for wild nature through several award-winning books and dozens of published articles. The Karen M. Fant Award was named for the late co-founder and inspirational leader of Washington Wild. The award honors volunteer activists who demonstrate the same love and relentless spirit she showed to protect our wild lands. At the same dinner Congressman Norm Dicks received Washington Wild’s Voices in Conservation Award in recognition of his numerous conservation accomplishments during his 36 years of service in the United States Congress. Connie Gallant, Chair of the Wild Olympics, accepted the award for Congressman Dicks.

Mcnulty

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