Poudre Canyon Group Receives National Sierra Club Award

SAN FRANCISCO – Sept. 23, 2000 – The Poudre Canyon Group of the Sierra Club, based in Fort Collins, Colo., received national recognition from the Sierra Club this fall for its efforts to reduce sprawl in Larimer and Weld Counties.

The group received the national Sierra Club’s Denny and Ida Wilcher Award, which honors outstanding achievement in the area of membership and/or fundraising. The group received the award for membership development accomplished through its "Challenge to Sprawl Campaign."

The Challenge to Sprawl campaign is an educational campaign about the economic, social and ecological costs of sprawl. To date, it has included several special events, such as a "Tour De Sprawl," as well as publication of a report, Sprawl Costs Us All: How Sprawl Affects Our Families, Quality of Life, and Communities on the northern Front Range.

Since the report’s release in January 2000, group volunteers have hosted four town meetings and given dozens of public presentations about Sprawl Costs Us All. The group now has a separate sprawl committee and a Challenge to Sprawl Web site and recently completed filming a 30-minute educational video for the City of Fort Collins.

The group credits the campaign with a membership increase of more than 100.

"We have received a steady stream of phone calls and e-mail inquiries from new people who have heard about the sprawl report and who want to volunteer or attend coming events," said Janna Six, chair of the Poudre Canyon Group.

Six noted that Colorado polls show that growth and sprawl are the topics of most concern to residents. "By providing the public with ways they could be involved in stopping sprawl, we are gaining their support," she said. "The Challenge to Sprawl Campaign is empowering people to visualize changes in the way development occurs in Colorado."

Membership Chair Jim Dennison accepted the Wilcher Award on behalf of the Poudre Canyon Group at the Sierra Club’s annual awards banquet in San Francisco Sept. 23.

The Sierra Club, which was founded in 1892 by John Muir, is the country’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. It currently has more than 600,000 members. For more information on the Poudre Canyon Group or the Challenge to Sprawl Campaign, call (970) 493-0314 or visit their Web site at http://www.rmc.sierraclub.org/pcg.