Conservation Award presented in March

Conservation Award honours people, farms, businesses, community groups protecting water, soil, and living things

Each March, Ausable Bayfield Conservation honours a community individual or group in Ausable Bayfield watersheds as the Conservationist of the Year at the Annual Conservation Awards. Long-serving directors and staff are also honoured.

Ausable Bayfield Conservation is a partner in the Healthy Lake Huron: Clean Water, Clean Beaches Partnership.

To find out more about the award, including nomination criteria, visit the web page for the Conservation Award at this link:

• Conservationist of the Year Award

The 2018 annual Conservation Awards are tentatively scheduled for March 15, 2018.

To attend the March celebration please contact Ausable Bayfield Conservation at 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610.

The event takes place at Ironwood Golf Club, 70969 Morrison Line, 2 km east of Exeter.

The agenda is:
• 5 p.m. – Social Time
• 5:30 p.m. – Light Supper
• 6 p.m. –  Conservation Awards
• Conservationist of the Year Award
• Ausable Bayfield Conservation Board and Staff Service Awards
• 6:30 p.m. –  Feature Presentation

If you have special dietary needs, please let Ausable Bayfield Conservation know in advance. 

Ausable Bayfield Conservation has presented the Conservationist of the Year Award since 1984.

Past winners of the Conservationist of the Year Award include rural landowners and residents, farms, service clubs, community organizations, companies, nature groups, and municipalities. Each winner is a business, farm, organization, or person residing in the watershed or having done conservation work there. The Conservationist of the Year receives a framed limited-edition conservation print as a prize and the conservation authority also makes a donation towards a tree and plaque at a Commemorative Woods site maintained by the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation.

The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority has recognized outstanding achievements in conservation, since 1984, with the annual presentation of an award to the Conservationist of the Year. 

The Conservation Award acknowledges one individual or group per year who demonstrates positive conservation principles. The nominee must have undertaken conservation efforts over a number of years that have shown long-term benefits for the natural environment and society.
 Examples of conservation work that protects soil, water, and living things, include:

• Improving local water quality
• Conservation farming
• Reforestation
• Environmental education
• Providing wildlife and fish habitat
• Promoting environmental awareness and action

Conservationist of the Year award winners in the past include:

• Mels and Ruthanne van der Laan, of Cold Stream Ranch
• Lambton Shores Phragmites Community Group
• Cordner Farms - Jane Sadler Richards and Doug Richards
• Bob Norris
• Peter Darbishire
• Joan and John Love
• Ann and Bill Phelan
• Exeter Lions Club
• Patricia Down* and Robert Down
• Lorne Teeple *
• Grand Bend Community Foundation
• Stewardson Dairy
• Boys' and Girls' Club, London (Middlesex ECO Crew)
• Shadyside Farms, Paul and Vic Hodgins
• Ray Letheren, Friends of the Bayfield River
• Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Lambton Shores
• Andy deBoer
• Stephanie Donaldson
• Everet and Joan Van Sligtenhorst
• John MacPherson
• Straw Family
• George Cantrick* 
• David McClure
• Brian Arnold
• Fred Dobbs
• Lions Club of Arkona
• Village of Arkona
• Township of Hibbert
• Stephen Bright
• Dinney Funeral Home
• Huron Fish and Game Club
• Garry Palmateer
• Lions Club of Clinton
• Bluewater Recycling Association
• Andrew Dixon
• Ralph and Eleanor Smith
• Elmer Trick
• Armstrong East Cottage Association 
• Lambton Wildlife Inc.
• David Ball
• Adelaide Township
• Arnold Westlaken
• Tuckersmith Township
• Van Loon Farms
• Village of Hensall
• Bob Montgomery
• Jim Reeve
• DEL Farms 
• Bud Walker
• Bert and Margaret Daynard
• Ausable Anglers Club
• Carfrey Cann
• Keith Connelly
• John Deeves
• Nancy Glendinning
• Hayter Turkey Farms
• Peter Rombouts
• Bill Thirlwall
• Ausable Nomads
• Dearing Farms
• Huron Soil and Water Conservation District
• Murray and Ron McRae
• Huron Board of Education
• Thomas Doherty
• Huron Centennial School
• Jerry Giesen
• Claybird Gun Club
• Wayne Woods
• Bayfield Anglers Association
• Jay  Campbell 

* Asterisk denotes that the award was given posthumously.