When she returns to service next spring the Denis Sullivan will celebrate her 10th year with a trip to all of the Great Lakes. As the signature ship in the Great Lakes United TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE®, she will visit several ports during the race across the Great Lakes. Port cities will be Toronto, Cleveland, Bay City, Duluth, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago.

As the signature ship and a dedicated science vessel, she’ll be helping to carry Great Lakes United’s message of freshwater conservation and protection to millions of individuals.

“We’re really excited to be sailing with Great Lakes United and being a part of this program,” said Tiffany Krihwan, Senior Captain of the Denis Sullivan. She added, “Anyone who comes aboard has the opportunity to learn about their individual impact on the natural resources and to validate this in their own life. The water that helps the Great Lakes survive is the same water that sustains the world.”

The Denis Sullivan will be joined by a fleet of over 15 others, some coming from as far away as the Netherlands and Germany to compete. Great Lakes United has partnered with the American Sail Training Association to help bring these ships to the lakes, and to promote a message of freshwater conservation.

“There is no better opportunity to energize people about the Great Lakes, than with a tall ship at your back and the water at your toes,” said Derek Stack, Executive Director of Great Lakes United.

For Great Lakes United, this is more than a simple race; it’s a race to protect the Great Lakes. By the end of 2010, the Great Lakes states and provinces are required to put in place water conservation plans. Part of the same agreements that shut the door to long-range diversions, the plans are intended to address an even greater threat: the wasteful water practices of those in the basin.

“Canadians and Americans are the worst wasters of water in the world” said Stack. “We’re seeing enormous energy being put into cleaning up these vital waters, but without a concerted effort on using water more wisely, we risk repeating the mistakes of the past.”

The message of conservation is one that rings true with the crew of the Denis Sullivan.

The Denis Sullivan represents a microcosm of the planet. At just under 3000 square feet of space, the schooner carries all the food, supplies and fresh water that the crew and students need to survive. While surrounded by water, the amount that is essential to survive is limited to the confines of the schooner. The difference available in your life is no more than 100 feet from you. The 2 gallons (7.5 litres) of water per person per day on board the ship is a sharp contrast to those on land where individual water use averages about 66 gallons (250 litres) per day.

“There is something special about seeing a student ‘getting it’,” said education officer Joe Ewing. “When a participant realizes that his or her actions either helps or hurts the situation. It is not just the mega-corporations or the community organizations that affect our environment. It is each and every one of us in our daily lives. That’s when what we are trying to do pays off.”

“On every one of our education voyages, whether it is a 90 minute Dockside Discovery with first graders, a 3 hour LakeWatch Expedition with middle or high school students, or a two week Science Under Sail adventure with high school and college age students or adults college, we emphasize the quality of water that we are in, why it is in the condition it is, what would be the ideal, and what it would take to get it to that level,” Ewing continued.

“If we can have our participants, whether they are 5 or 85 years old, leave the S/V Denis Sullivan, energized to go home and make a difference, we’ve been successful,” said Ewing. “If we can get a few of these people interested in doing some follow up investigation, we’ve been successful. If we can get one or two who might even consider a career in marine studies and the care of our planet, we’ve been successful.”

About the Denis Sullivan

The S/V Denis Sullivan is a 137-ft three-masted recreation of a 19th century Great Lakes cargo schooner. Celebrating its 10th year of operation in 2010, the Denis Sullivan sails the Great Lakes as well as into the Atlantic and Caribbean.

The ship offers an intensive, adventure-based, academic program designed to provide high school students, as well as college age and older, an opportunity to live and work aboard the Denis Sullivan. Students participate actively in all ship’s operations while investigating the different features of the marine environment. It is also an experiential study of history and culture viewed through the maritime lens.

Sailing on a tall ship provides a rare opportunity for students to live and work as real explorers in the spirit of the 19th century voyagers they otherwise can only read about. They can take aspects from over a century ago and apply them to the 21st century.

Many residents of Great Lakes communities lack the resources to make informed decisions about environmental issues that directly affect their quality of life. The integrity of the Great Lakes and freshwater resources around the globe are threatened by loss and degradation of habitat, urban growth, the invasion of exotic species, and the cycling of toxic chemicals and pollutants. Sailing on the Great Lakes links these communities together and fosters the sense of pride that is crucial to overcoming these ecological challenges.

To learn more about the Denis Sullivan contact:
Discovery World
Milwaukee, WI
414.765.8622 | www.discoveryworld.org

After 15 years of fighting to address critical environmental concerns such as toxics, global warming, and water privatization, the Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education (EAGLE) was unable to recover from the slumping economy. In the summer, it was forced to shutter its operations.

Jan Conley, executive director and co-founder of EAGLE, said that like many small groups, they had about a six-month reserve of operating funds.

“There just isn’t this large backlog of funds to draw on,” she said.

When markets took a dive in 2008 grants dried up and foundations reduced their funding output. This hit EAGLE hard, as their long time funders couldn’t support them at the same levels, while others weren’t funding new programs or organizations.

Meanwhile, as larger, national groups have turned increasingly to local grantors for support, locally based groups like EAGLE have felt the squeeze from the other direction.

“Last year we put out five grant requests. In the end only one came through – for computer upgrades,” said Conley. “If you have new computers but no money for programs, where do you go with that?” The organization turned down the computer offer.

Just as foundations are tightening their belts, so too are individual donors. For the individual, it can be hard to conceptualize how this can impact the non-profits they support. Many think that skipping their individual $50 or $100 donation won’t have a major impact, but when hundreds of others make the same decision, it can place non-profits in a very tough position.

“People often don’t understand how much local groups depend on individual donors,” said Conley.

While foundations provide important funding for specific programs, they very rarely fund general operations, which are critical to ensuring that campaign work can happen. This ranges from things as basic as rent, utilities and office equipment, to elements as complex as support staff, organizational development and executive oversight.

In “The Quiet Crisis”, a report funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the non-profit sector is identified as being hit particularly hard by the economic downturn. According to the report, 94 per cent of non-profits have a budget under $1 million, and 74 per cent of non-profits surveyed have less than six months of operating reserves. In the past, when recessions have lasted 8 months or longer, giving has dropped on average 2.7 per cent per year, with the worst years being 1972 to 1975 where donations dropped nearly ten per cent. Considering the size and scale of today’s non-profit sector relative to that of 40 years ago, the report suggests the impact could be much worse.

For Conley, closing EAGLE’s doors was a difficult decision. But at the core was a question of whether the organization could continue to fulfill its mission by keeping its doors open. In the end, Conley didn’t want to just keep the lights on and watch the organization use its last remaining funds to pay the bill. Rather, what was most important was to sustain the mission.

“We decided to close down and to disperse our remaining funds to groups that we had been working closely with over the years, and whose missions aligned with ours.”

Meanwhile, EAGLE has been able to pass on some of its most successful projects and programs on to other partners. The organization of Duluth’s annual Living Green Conference, now in its 18th year, has been handed off to Lake Superior College, while Lake Superior Magazine will be printing EcoSource—a directory of green business and environmental organizations on Lake Superior.

Conley urges other groups who may be facing a similar situation as EAGLE to consider how their core work might be given a new home with another organization. When asked if there were any hard feelings in handing these programs off, Conley said not at all. “It’s like you’re running a relay – when you hand off the baton you don’t keep running. But as long as the baton keeps moving, you know the mission and work goes on.”

Ecojustice launched the suit in November, 2007 on behalf of Great Lakes United and Mining Watch Canada. On April 23 2009 the Canadian Federal Court issued an order requiring the federal government to immediately begin publicly reporting mining pollution data from 2006 onward to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI).

The strongly worded decision described the government’s decision-making pace as “glacial” and chastised the government for turning a “blind eye” to the issue and dragging its feet for “more than 16 years”.

In response to the Canadian Minister of the Environment’s failure to require reporting, the Honourable Mr. Justice Russell concluded, “the result is that the people of Canada do not have a national inventory of releases of pollutants that will allow them to assess the state of the Canadian environment and take whatever measures they feel are appropriate to protect the environment and facilitate the protection of human health.”

In contrast, since 1998, the U.S. government has required mining companies to report all pollutants under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), the U.S. equivalent of the NPRI. In 2005, the 72 mines in the U.S. reporting to the TRI released more than 500 million kilograms of toxic substances to mine tailings and waste rock. This accounted for 27% of all U.S. pollutants reported. The addition of the Canadian data will give us a more complete picture of the mining threat in the Great Lakes.

Toxics leak through tailings ponds walls and evaporate into the air on an ongoing basis. As climate change threatens to bring more frequent and increasingly intense storms, the potential for tailings ponds’ walls to collapse increases. This means toxic tailings rushing out into the environment and into the lakes. Such devastating collapses of tailings ponds have already occurred in Europe and in the coal mining area of the U.S.

The decision also means that the public will have to be told about the devastating toxic discharges to the massive tailings ponds created by mining the tar sands in Alberta. The product of tar sands development—one of the largest industrial undertakings in the world—is being touted as the source of oil for proposed expansions of oil refineries throughout the Great Lakes in locations such as Superior, Wisconsin, Gary, Indiana, Detroit, and Sarnia.

Now that we will have knowledge on the toxic contents of these tailings ponds and rock piles on both sides of the Great Lakes basin, we will be more capable of pressuring for action to protect the Great Lakes from these threats.

Environment Canada has stated that they will move quickly to implement the judge’s decision.

To protect this ecosystem, the combined efforts of both the public and private sectors of the two countries, eight states and two provinces that shared this precious resource were needed. The participation of indigenous peoples with their separate governmental powers and concerns for the environment were also crucial. Success would not be possible without strong international collaboration.

When Great Lakes United was created in late 1982 on Mackinaw Island, and during other formative meetings, UAW members played a key role in writing the coalition’s by-laws and policies. This was crucial to shaping the future direction of the organization.

The structure of the Great Lakes United board, with its mix of regional directors and “at large” directors, is similar to that of many unions. The directors are elected at an annual meeting and duly voted on by the member organizations.

However, the influence of a progressive union movement can also be seen in many of the policies of the coalition.

During biennial presentations to the International Joint Commission, Great Lakes United has always allocated part of its time for a presentation from labour regarding the need for a “Just Transition” for workers affected by the phasing out of toxics and the creation of greener jobs within the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River region. This led to the International Joint Commission calling on the Canadian and American governments for a “Just Transition” for affected workers.

Indeed, the desire for a clean and healthy Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River ecosystem is one shared by the public and union members alike. Great Lakes United’s clean production program has always had active union participation as the coalition works to get toxics out of our workplaces and products, so that they will not end up in our water and environment.

Building on these goals, the Canadian Autoworkers Union has actively worked with Great Lakes United to promote “Extended Producer Responsibility” as a method to promote and create greener jobs for workers and encourage employers to provide a Just Transition for workers affected by the change to a greener more sustainable economy.

Since its inception, Great Lakes United has been a place for diverse voices to work together for a cleaner ecosystem. The union movement has had a long history as one such voice in contributing to the protection of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River for generations to come.

To commemorate the signing —and the hundred years of water cooperation it ushered—the Consulate General of Canada, the United States Consulate General, and the International Joint Commission are hosting Boundary Waters Week from June 5 to 14 in Niagara Falls, New York and Ontario.

With the anniversary of the signing this weekend, they have launched the official website of the centennial celebrations at www.oursharedwaters.com.

During the week in June, communities along the Niagara River and the Boundary Waters Treaty Centennial Committee will host a series of water-themed conferences, festivals, exhibits and events featuring distinguished environmental speakers and dignitaries.  Highlights include a special ceremony on the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls on Saturday, June 13.

To help mark the event, Great Lakes United is hosting several activities during the Boundary Waters Week, including a workshop for activists working on cleaning up toxic hotspots, a tour of environmental hotspots along the Niagara River, and a meeting of the coalition to discuss campaigns for 2009.

In a release, Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter, Honorary Chair of the Boundary Waters Treaty Centennial Committee said, “This summer we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the world’s first environmental agreement, the Boundary Waters Treaty. To this day, this historic accord remains a model of binational governance and a guide for two countries working to protect their shared natural resources for future generations.”

Her comments were supported by Niagara Falls, Ontario, Mayor Ted Salci, who is also an honourary chair of the committee: “Municipalities along the Niagara are pleased to honour this treaty by seeking new ways to protect, preserve and celebrate ‘our shared waters.”

“Seaway acts to flush Great Lakes invaders”
– Muskegon Chronicle, May 6, 2008

After years of watching new invasive species arrive in the ballast tanks of ocean ships, the St. Lawrence Seaway has finally put in place measures to address ships that arrive in the Great Lakes with “no ballast on board” but still harboring residual water—and invaders—at the bottom of their tanks. In addition to ballasted ships flushing their tanks out in the open sea, these ships are now also required to flush, killing or purging many invaders that may be lurking. While this is not an 100% effective measure, and we must continue to press towards ships meeting national discharge standards, it represents a significant step forward in protecting the Great Lakes.

“IJC abandons gutless plan for dam”
– Great Lakes News, online edition, September 18, 2008

Activists from across the region rallied to prevent the International Joint Commission from implementing a management plan for the Moses-Saunders Dam that would have damaging effects on coastal habitat. “Plan 2007” would maintain the status quo for managing Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River levels. American Rivers has suggested that these management practices have made the St. Lawrence one of America’s most threatened rivers. The IJC is now working on a broader, more inclusive, process for developing a water levels plan that would benefit the environment after suffering 50 years of damage.

“Montreal Selects New Sewage Treatment Technology”

On January 30, 2008, the city of Montreal announced that, after years of study, ozone will be the disinfection technology implemented at its sewage treatment plant. According to the Mayor of Montreal, Gérald Tremblay, it is a big step forward in improving the water quality of the St. Lawrence River and for the benefit of Montrealers and residents downstream.

The ozone technology meets the requirements of Montreal wastewater, in addition to dealing with emerging substances. The Montréal sewage treatment plant treats 2.5 million cubic meters of water daily, about 50 per cent of all wastewater in Quebec. From the perspective of sustainability, this disinfection process takes into account the elimination of viruses and bacteria, emerging new compounds, including pharmaceuticals and surfactants (detergents).

“Congress Passes Great Lakes Legacy Act”
–Targeted News Service, October 1, 2008

Before adjourning for the fall, Congress reauthorized the Great Lakes Legacy Act, providing $54 million per year to clean up toxic pollution across the region. Funding from the legislation is being used to clean up such pollution as contaminated sediments Indiana’s Grand Calumet River (an Area of Concern) and Milwaukee’s Kinnickinnic River.

Congress passes historic Great Lakes protection
– Great Lakes News, online edition, September 23, 2008

After seven years of negotiating the agreements and passing them in the eight Great Lakes states, Ontario, and Quebec, the Great Lakes Compact and its sister international agreement became law this fall. The agreements represent the strongest protections in Great Lakes history against harmful diversions and introduce strict conservation standards for the regions most wasteful water users.

“Minnesota Voters in 2008 Approve $5.5 Billion to Protect Land and Water”
Marketwatch, November 5, 2008

The Clean Water, Wildlife and Cultural Heritage and Natural Area amendment to Minnesota’s constitution was passed on November 4, raising $300 million every year for 25 years. The funds will go toward cleaning up polluted waters and lands, establishing conservation easements, and other projects to ensure a environmental legacy for future Minnesotans.

Behind the headlines and the policy-talk, it is the time and dedication of volunteers that ensures community organizations fulfill their mission successfully.

Knowing that their efforts are making a difference in the world is why North Americans offer their unpaid help. At the same time, they understand that volunteering is an opportunity to enrich their own skills and maintain social connections.

For Nate Drag, a volunteer with Great Lakes United, the most fulfilling part of being a volunteer is knowing that his efforts are turning the tide for the Great Lakes.

This past spring Drag was volunteering at an event for
Great Lakes United along the Buffalo waterfront when he spotted floating debris. It turned out that the ‘debris’ was actually raw sewage that had been released by the city’s antiquated sewer system. Considering the event was intended to strengthen the call to clean up the Great Lakes, the release of raw sewage was very real evidence of what needed to be done. Writing on behalf of Great Lakes United, Drag broke the story on a community blog, sparking mainstream media coverage.

“To be on the pulse of ecological issues in the community and help initiate press coverage on that occurrence was unbelievably rewarding and inspiring,” said Drag. “It is this ability to reach the entire community as a volunteer—a regular citizen—that is very fulfilling.”

For the organizations that utilize a volunteer force, these contributions are essential components to fulfilling their mission.

“Volunteers help us to maximize the effectiveness of the dollars we raise and ensure our work is focussed and effective,” said Bonnie Danni, director of finance and development for Great Lakes United.

Indeed, across Canada and the United States, volunteers represent the equivalent of over 10 million full time jobs, valued at over $270 billion dollars. Without the effort of this unpaid workforce, many of the complex and intensive programs directed by community groups would not be possible.

Last year, one in four adults over the age of 16 in the U.S. volunteered their time to over 1 million charities, religious congregations, and social welfare agencies.

In Canada, the case is similar. According to the most recent Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, nearly 12 million Canadians—approximately 45% of the adult population—took part in volunteer activities. These findings include mandatory community service, which aren’t included in the U.S. figures.

The face of volunteering is quickly changing. The volunteer corps, traditionally dominated by white, educated, middle-aged, middle-class women, is getting younger and diversifying. In Canada, youth are 10% more likely to volunteer than an adult. In addition, since 1989, the percentage of youth who volunteer in the United States has nearly doubled, peaking at just above the national average.

These young people are highly motivated to make a difference in their local and global communities and to gain skills that will improve their future job opportunities. They also want to enjoy their participation, feel like they are contributing, and meet new friends.

As the economic downturn continues to ripple across the world, non-profit organizations will feel the crunch particularly hard. This puts even greater emphasis on reaching out to volunteers to encourage them to help out.

By helping out with a community group, volunteers connect with their neighbours, learn new skills and, most importantly, make a difference in the world.

With files from Gina Grosenick, PhD candidate in Communications at Carleton University.

Earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the historic Great Lakes Compact, ensuring the strongest protections ever to stop water diversions and to regulate large-scale water use. The final step is for President Bush to sign the Compact, as he has already pledged to do.

“The Great Lakes are a region of incredible beauty, but also tremendous fragility. Passage today shows that the Great Lakes are at the front of the minds of legislators across the United States, and that they are ready to act to protect this ecosystem,” said Derek Stack, Executive Director of Great Lakes United.

“Seven years ago, citizens from across the region demanded that their leaders shut the tap to large-scale diversion of Great Lakes water,” said John Jackson, Director of Clean Production and Toxics at Great Lakes United. “After painstaking work between eight states, two provinces and countless citizens and stakeholders, we have the laws that will protect these precious waters for generations to come.”

The Compact, formally known as the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, stems from a binational Agreement of the same name forged between the eight Great Lakes states, Ontario, and Quebec. The Agreement promises strong water conservation standards across the region and a set of rules that will prevent harm to the environment when local business and governments use water. Great Lakes citizens and environmental groups will have to be actively engaged to ensure that these new standards and rules live up to the promises made by Ontario, Quebec and the states in their international Agreement, and now, pending President Bush’s signature, U.S. federal law.

“In the coming world where water is more valuable than oil, forward-looking agreements like this compact are indispensable for protecting the economic livelihood and environmental health of a region like the Great Lakes,” said Reg Gilbert, formerly Director of Sustainable Waters for Great Lakes United, who led much of the coalition’s work on the Agreement and Compact. “Passing the U.S. Compact is an absolutely critical step, but our collective work has just begun. The states and provinces still must implement the Agreement and Compact and bridge substantial differences to assure that the waters of our region benefit our great grandchildren.

The legislation was prompted when, in 1998, the province of Ontario approved a proposal to take water from Lake Superior for the purpose of shipping it to Asia in a tanker. The action outraged citizens across the region and highlighted the need for strong protections for Great Lakes water. As policymakers grappled with just what a new binational agreement would look like, Great Lakes United served on the Advisory Team to the Agreement and led public engagement to build consensus on critical and fundamental positions, such as how to define the Great Lakes ecosystem and consider groundwater in this landmark international agreement.

For more information:
Derek Stack, Executive Director 613-797-9532
John Jackson, Director of Clean Production and Toxics 519-744-7503
Reg Gilbert, 716-883-5504

Helene Kershner accepts the John Manty Award in the memory of her late
husband, Bruce. Presenting the award to honour the long-time forest
activist is John Jackson.
Photo credit: Brent Gibson

At a June 6 ceremony on the Buffalo waterfront co-hosted by Great Lakes United and the Canadian Consulate, Great Lakes United gave the eleventh John Manty Award to the late Bruce Kershner.

His wife Helene received the award in his memory and offered an impassioned plea for citizens across the region to follow-up on Bruce’s work to protect our ancient trees and forests. Many of his friends and co-workers were in the audience. Bruce is remembered for his love of wild places and his dedication to ensuring everyone knew how special and how worthy of protection these places are.

Bruce was an environmentalist, author, forest ecologist, and former staff person for Great Lakes United. He was a renowned authority on old growth forests, documenting hundreds of ancient trees and forests in eastern North America, where previously no one thought they had existed. He documented New York State’s oldest forest and the largest assemblage of old growth forest in the Niagara River and Escarpment corridor on both the Canadian and U.S. sides. Bruce published a dozen books and ancient forest guides, including a gem entitled, Secret Places: Scenic Treasures of Western New York and Southern Ontario. This book is hoped to be republished soon.

Bruce was committed to maximizing public involvement in protecting the old growth forest by ensuring people’s love for those special places. Bruce was constantly leading people into the forest. A trip with Bruce infected people with a love and respect for the remnants of ancient forests that need to be preserved. And it turned them into activists determined to protect those places.

Bruce died in February 2007 from esophageal cancer. In addition to his accomplishments above, we at Great Lakes United remember him as a dedicated staff member who helped us find the path we tread today.

The John Manty Award is given to people who have shown broad vision, a commitment to the grassroots, and a focus on networking. If you know someone who should be considered for this award contact John Jackson at jjackson@glu.org.

The River Rally Jam Band rocks the house during the River
Idol and River Jam event. Nominated for a Grammy for
“Best Improvised Performance in a Packed and Stuffy
Lodge,” members include: Rich Schrader (River Source,
New Mexico), Todd Ambs (Wisconsin DNR/River Network
Board); David Rutter (Mid-Ohio Regional Planning
Commission); Beth Stewart (Cahaba River Society,
Alabama); Chris Brown, United States Forestry Service,
Washington, D.C.); Erin Crowley (Ohio River Foundation);
and Derek Reuter (Save the Maumee, Indiana).

Great Lakes United took a new approach to its Annual General Meeting this year and partnered with River Network’s River Rally to help members connect with allies across North America.

During the coalition business meeting on Friday, May 2, three new members were elected to the Board of Directors: Cheryl Mendoza from Freshwater Future, Melanie Napoleon from the John G. Shedd Aquarium, and Barbara Cram-Crabtree from Sierra Club of Bucks County. In addition, Jim Mahon, Manfred Koechlin, Vernon Edwards, Robert Goebel and Catherine Gillespie were all re-elected to serve another term. Turn to page two for a full listing of Board members.

Member groups brought forward four resolutions, each of which passed.
The first three dealt with nuclear and green energy issues. The first directed Great Lakes United to ensure authorities closely scrutinize proposals to declare decommissioned nuclear sites as ‘greenfield or ‘brownfield’. The second supported an indefinite moratorium on uranium mining in the Great Lakes region, and the third called on governments to focus on renewable energy generators, shifting taxpayer support away from fossil fuel and nuclear power generation.

The fourth resolution supported efforts to minimize the entrapment and impingement of fish in the water intakes in the Great Lakes. Each resolution can be found online by visiting www.glu.org.

Following the Friday business meeting, many staff and coalition members attended River Rally. One of the largest meetings of river conservationists, River Rally is a four-day learning and networking event that brings expert speakers and workshop leaders from areas of science, outreach, capacity building, communication and fundraising.

Great Lakes United extended an introductory membership to all River Rally attendees, and we want to give a special welcome to you all! Rally Ho!

River Rally honoured six people who have made a lifelong commitment to protecting and conserving rivers during the annual River Heroes and James Compton Achievement Awards. From left to right the recipients are: Rob Hutsel, San Diego River Park Foundation (California); John Tippett, Friends of the Rappahannock (Virginia), JoAnn Burkholder, Center for Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University and recipient of the James Compton Award; Robert Ruffner; Kenai Watershed Forum (Arkansas); David Baker, Sandusky River Watershed Coalition (Ohio); Bernie Dahl, Banks of the Wabash (Indiana).