Conservation heroes wanted

Posted on

Call for Nominations: 2022 Ellen Zimmerman Award

Do you know someone who has made an outstanding contribution to protecting nature or environmental education in the Columbia Headwaters region? Nominate them for the 2022 Ellen Zimmerman Award and support their ongoing work and commitment to protecting nature and inspiring about nature through environmental education. The award winner will receive $1,000 to support their ongoing work and a commemorative art piece to support their ongoing work. Nominations are due by March 15, 2022

Ellen receives recognition at a Wildsight AGM in Invermere. Photo by Pat Morrow

Ellen Zimmerman was a key leader for Wildsight and a tenacious champion for nature conservation in the Columbia Valley for more than 40 years until her passing in 2020. Those of us who worked with Ellen recall her deep passion for nature, her unrelenting commitment to defending it and her strength to persevere and succeed as a female environmental advocate in a rural, resource industry-dominated community. Ellen’s legacy includes the protection of the Columbia Wetlands, one of the longest intact wetlands in North America and the only stretch of the Columbia River that remains undammed, and the Cummins River Valley, an intact watershed in the Inland Temperate Rainforest. Her work supported the protection of Lot 48 on the east side of Columbia Lake and cosmetic pesticide bylaws in many communities throughout the region. 

To honour Ellen’s contributions and incredible legacy, the Ellen Zimmerman Award was established to support conservation and environmental education champions in the Columbia Headwaters region (stretching from Canal Flats to Revelstoke). The winner will receive a commemorative ceramic art piece and a $1,000 gift to celebrate and support their contributions to environmental conservation and education in the Upper Columbia Region. This year’s award will be presented on Earth Day, April 22, 2022. 

Nominate a Conservation Champion today 

Donate to the Ellen Zimmerman Award fund

Nominations are now closed for the 2024 Ellen Zimmerman Award. Stay tuned for this year's recipient.  All about Ellen Ellen Zimmerman was fuelled…Learn more