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Sierra Club Announces 1999 National Award Winners
SAN FRANCISCO Sept. 24, 1999 Eighteen environmental activists from around
the country were honored as the Sierra Club held its Annual Dinner at the Delancey Street
Foundation.
The clubs top award, the John Muir Award, went to California resident Judy
Anderson for her work in shaping and securing passage of the California Desert Protection
Act of 1994, a bill that increased the levels of protection on 9 million acres of land by
creating two national parks, one national preserve, and 69 Bureau of Land Management
wilderness areas.
"The success of the California Desert Protection Act was the Sierra Clubs
greatest public land success of the decade and without Judy Andersons efforts, it is
extremely doubtful that the Act would have passed," said Sierra Club President Chuck
McGrady.
Anderson chaired the California Desert Protection League of 120 environmental
organizations and held that coalition together from 1985 through 1994. She went to school
to learn map-making and headed the effort that drew the more than 120 maps that were the
heart of the bill introduced by former California Senator Alan Cranston in 1986.
She also was an important witness in many congressional hearings on the bill. Anderson previously received a Special Service Award from the Club in 1997.
A new award, the One Club Award, which recognizes people who use outings as a way to
instill an interest in conservation and protecting public lands, was given to Maui
resident Mary Evanson.
Evanson has spearheaded dozens of successful conservation campaigns
on Maui over the past 20 years through organizing hikes, service trips, educational forums
and tours of threatened areas. The award included a $1,000 prize that will help Evanson
and other activists in their efforts to preserve the last wild coastline in South Maui.
The Joseph Barbosa Earth Fund Award, which honors club members under age 30 who
have demonstrated a commitment to the environment, was given to Elizabeth Hagan of the
Sierra Student Coalition.
Hagan took a year off from college to organize several campaigns
for the Sierra Student Coalition, including a campaign to save the Great Bear Rainforest
in British Columbia, Canada, and a campaign to preserve the coastal plain of the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge.
She also organized the Coalitions first Public Lands
Action Summit in Washington, D.C., and worked with the Sierra Club of British Columbia to
plan the Sierra Club Rainforest Bus Tour that went to colleges in the eastern United
States.
Hagan is from Atlanta and is a sophomore at Harvard, majoring in public policy. Her
award included a $2,000 prize that will help the Sierra Student Coalition sponsor its
second Public Lands Action Summit in Washington, D.C., next spring.
Another new award, the Electronic Communication Award, was given to Josh Weisman,
Jeffrey Solari and Will Easton of San Francisco for their development of the Sierra
Clubs sprawl website.
Others receiving awards for 1999 included the following:
The Edgar Wayburn Award (for service to the environmental cause by a person in
government): Former Arkansas Governor and U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers.
The David R. Brower Award (for excellence in environmental journalism): Tom
Kenworthy of the Washington Post Denver Office.
The William O. Douglas Award (for contributions in the field of environmental law):
Tony Ruckel of Denver, Colorado.
The Walter A. Starr Award (for continuing support of the Club by a former
director): Helen Burke of the Clubs San Francisco Bay Chapter.
The Oliver Kehrlein Award (for outstanding service to the clubs Outings
program): Herbert Carlton of Greenville, North Carolina.
Special Achievement Award (recognizes a single act of importance dedicated to
conservation):Dick Simpson of Palo Alto, California.
Special Service Awards (for strong and consistent commitment to conservation over
an extended period of time): Richard Hellard of Juneau, Alaska; Jono Miller of Sarasota,
Florida; Laurie Macdonald of St. Petersburg, Florida; and Lucille Vinyard of Trinidad,
California.
Newsletter Award: The Georgia Sierran (Georgia Chapter), Toiyabe Trails
(Toiyabe Chapter) and Its Our Nature (Fox Valley Group).