Contact: Elizabeth Baker, 415.928.3774
Mill Valley, CA
December 30, 2010
Resource Renewal Institute announces the 2010 River Warrior awards, which are given to those who protect and improve water quality, fish, wildlife, and river ecosystems. The River Warrior awards have rewarded 90 groups and individuals with $100,000 over three years.
Hailing from ten U.S. states, the 29 ‘River Warriors’ work at the local, state, national, and international levels. The awards come ‘out of the blue’ with a $1,000-plus cash prize. Former CA Secretary of Resources, Huey D. Johnson, founded the River Warrior awards in 2008 to “encourage the rare individuals whose lives are defined by passion for rivers and fish.”
According to RRI vice president Elizabeth Baker, “The impacts of climate change are happening now. Many of the 2010 River Warriors have jumped in the ring with fossil fuel interests to keep local rivers and communities healthy.”
Awards include Appalachian Voices, which defends land, water and wildlife from mountaintop removal mining. Rainforest Action Network is working in the Canadian rainforest against the large-scale water pollution caused by tar sands development. California Water Impact Network advocates for better allocation, irrigation, and river protection policies in a state where energy and water and closely linked.
“River Warriors see that clean water is the key to future peace and prosperity. But they let coho salmon, white water rafting and waterfront parks tell the story,” says Baker.
Other River Warriors are work directly from their homes on local watersheds, as is the case with 2010 River Warrior Beryl Thurman. She founded the North Shore Waterfront Conservancy to monitor Staten Island’s industrial north shore and improve public access to improved waterfront marshes. Upon learning of the River Warrior award, Thurman remarked, “I don’t know what to say as this award has caught me completely off guard. I don’t know how these blessings came about but I am happy for them.”
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A complete list of 2010 River Warrior award recipients is below:
1. Appalachian Voices (NC)
2. The Bay Institute (CA)
3. Gary Braasch (OR)
4. Center for Biological Diversity (AZ)
5. Clearwater (NY)
6. California Water Impact Network (CA)
7. Carol Drake, Friends of Benton Harbor (MI)
8. Nadananda, Friends of the Eel River (CA)
9. Friends of the River (CA)
10. Mauricio Gomez, South Coast Habitat Restoration (CA)
11. Rebecca Moore, Google Earth Outreach (CA)
12. Green Belt Movement (DC)
13. Steve Harris, Rio Grande Restoration (NM)
14. Patrick McCully, International Rivers (CA)
15. L. A. River Expeditions (CA)
16. Milwaukee River Greenway Coalition (WI)
17. Beryl Thurman, North Shore Waterfront Conservancy of Staten Island (NY)
18. Casey Caplinger, NOWWE (CA)
19. Planning and Conservation League Foundation (CA)
20. Rainforest Action Network (CA)
21. Restore Hetch Hetchy (CA)
22. Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (CO)
23. Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (CA)
24. San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (CO)
25. Santa Barbara Channel Keeper (CA)
26. Susan Ives (CA)
27. Sitka Conservation Society (AK)
28. Phillip Wallin, Western Rivers Conservancy (OR)
29. Western Rivers Institute (CO)