Environmental Awards 2024
Fostering Love of the Land for Children and Youth
2024 is the 40th year that the Sonoma County Conservation Council has been recognizing local environmental leaders! Given that the generation that began this mission of protecting our beautiful region from rampant development is aging out and passing on, we feel that the work being done to “foster a love of the land” for children and youth is essential to carrying on this legacy of protection and stewardship.
SCCC is honoring four programs and their leaders who are continuing this important mission, as well as two other individuals for their long-time work behind the scenes protecting the environment in Sonoma County.
Ernestine I. Smith Environmentalists of the Year
Craig Anderson & Lee Hackeling, Co-directors of LandPaths, for their Rooting Youth in Nature initiative.
Christine Fontaine, Education Director, Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, for the Learning Laguna and Camp Tule programs.
Craig Anderson and Lee Hackeling are the founders and heart and soul of LandPaths, a Sonoma County nonprofit founded in 1996 with a mission to “foster a love of the land.” LandPaths conducts vibrant environmental education programming focusing on youth and historically underserved communities. Rooting Youth in Nature is one of three core initiatives that their work focuses on. With vision, commitment and amazing effectiveness, and by recognizing years ago the importance of bringing diversity into the environmental arena, Craig and Lee have grown LandPaths into a significant force for environmental protection in the county.
LandPaths is one of the original providers that helped form our Program awardee, the Sonoma Environmental Education Collaborative, back in 2008. They are also one of the participating organizations in the Pathways Project and helped bring funding to the Project.
Christine Fontaine has served as Education Director of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation for nearly 18 years. Christine is an inspirational, creative and passionate environmental educator who advanced the Learning Laguna Program and developed Camp Tule programs which have inspired thousands of children about the wonders of the Laguna watershed. She has grown Learning Laguna, an environmental and wetland science education program for 2nd-4th grade students; it has served approximately 23,000 children to date. Christine also created Camp Tule in 2018, a summer day-camp that now also serves as a career pathway program for high school and college students seeking hands-on opportunities to learn teaching skills and build their own leadership competencies serving as camp counselors and naturalists. .She has trained hundreds of people to serve as volunteer environmental teachers and guides. Her leadership and creative planning ensures that the Laguna Foundation’s Community Education programs engage and inspire people of all ages to value the Laguna de Santa Rosa ecosystems.
Lifetime Environmental Achievement Award
Ernie Carpenter was a Sonoma County Supervisor for 16 years, from 1981-1997. Ernie has been and continues to be a powerful force for the environment. Over the past 40 years, he has worked with the California Coastal Conservancy, was a was a founding board member of LandPaths and Neighbors to Preserve Rural Sonoma County as well as several land conservation and oak woodland conservation groups. He advocated for the Agricultural and Open Space District to protect large swaths of land in western Sonoma County. He has been an outspoken and passionate advocate for the environment and a mentor to many young people entering politics and environmental and social justice advocacy work.
Outstanding Environmental Program
The Sonoma Environmental Education Collaborative is a network of dozens of organizations which work with youth. They identify grade level gaps, environmental education gaps, and land connection gaps all around the county. The Environmental Education Pathways Project, an initiative of SEEC’s, aims to fill those gaps, increase access to nature, and provide hands-on outdoor learning. With a focus on Title 1 elementary schools, the Pathways Project works to make sure that every student at every grade level has a touchpoint of environmental education. Over 10 environmental education providers, all members of SEEC, collaborate with 32 schools to create “pathways” to reflect the school’s culture and assets, and scaffold student learning to intentionally re-enforce and build greater student understanding.
Special Recognition
John Fairbank is a dedicated volunteer who for years has spent hundreds of hours caring for the land. He is particularly passionate about removing invasive species so that native biodiversity can thrive in Sonoma County. Not only does he attend volunteer workdays at multiple organizations, but he also goes out on his own time to a number of preserves and Sonoma County Regional Parks throughout the county to remove invasive species, protect watersheds by monitoring drainage and erosion during storms, and conducting forestry work. In addition, John is a wildlife docent at Ragle Park and is becoming a docent at Armstrong Woods.
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