Conservation Awards

The Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust  was recently selected as the Con­ser­va­tion Orga­ni­za­tion of the Year for the Alabama Wildlife Federation’s Governor’s Con­ser­va­tion Achieve­ment Awards!

For more than 40 years, this award has rec­og­nized orga­ni­za­tions that make last­ing con­tri­bu­tions to con­ser­va­tion in Alabama. The Con­ser­va­tion Orga­ni­za­tion of the Year Award is a part of the Governor’s Con­ser­va­tion Achieve­ment Awards, selected by the Alabama Wildlife Fed­er­a­tion (AWF) and one of the high­est hon­ors in the con­ser­va­tion community.

The Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust and its Board of Direc­tors were hon­ored at the Governor’s Con­ser­va­tion Achieve­ment Awards Ban­quet for their work with Red Moun­tain Park, the Red Rock Ridge & Val­ley Trail Sys­tem, and Turkey Creek Nature Pre­serve, includ­ing the removal of Old Shadow Lake Dam on Turkey Creek, a project that opened up an addi­tional half mile of habi­tat for the endan­gered ver­mil­ion darter – a fish native to the Birm­ing­ham area that before this project only had about seven miles of habi­tat in the entire world.

“This award helps us con­tinue to carry out our mis­sion of pre­serv­ing the spe­cial places that mat­ter in Alabama, and we are extremely hon­ored to be rec­og­nized as meet­ing AWF’s stan­dards of excel­lence,” Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Wendy Jack­son said.  “This mark of dis­tinc­tion allows us to posi­tion our­selves among the com­mu­nity as ded­i­cated stew­ards of Alabama’s excep­tional and irre­place­able nat­ural her­itage, leav­ing a per­ma­nent legacy for future gen­er­a­tions to admire.”

In addi­tion, the Rotary Club of Birm­ing­ham was selected as Water Con­ser­va­tion­ist of the Year Award for their work on the Rotary Trail. The Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust nom­i­nated Rotary Club, high­light­ing the numer­ous water qual­ity ben­e­fits asso­ci­ated with this trans­for­ma­tional down­town addi­tion to the Red Rock Trail.

The pur­pose of the Governor’s Con­ser­va­tion Achieve­ment Awards pro­gram is to pro­mote lead­er­ship by exam­ple and in turn increase con­ser­va­tion of the nat­ural resources of the State of Alabama – its wildlife, forests, soils, water, and air. The pro­gram is designed to bring about a greater knowl­edge and aware­ness of con­ser­va­tion prac­tices and projects, and to give proper recog­ni­tion to those per­sons and orga­ni­za­tions that make out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to the nat­ural resource wel­fare of the com­mu­nity and the state.

Alabama Power Com­pany, a long-time part­ner and sup­porter of the Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust, pro­vided the nom­i­na­tion for the award. Bruce Akin, CEO of B.A.S.S., and Randy Jones of Vul­can Mate­ri­als Com­pany pro­vided let­ters of sup­port. It is these spe­cial part­ner­ships with cor­po­rate sup­port­ers like Alabama Power, B.A.S.S., and Vul­can Mate­ri­als Com­pany that allow the Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust to con­serve and pro­tect Alabama’s nat­ural and envi­ron­men­tal resources, ensur­ing that con­ser­va­tion efforts are per­ma­nent in Alabama.

This is the sec­ond time the Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust has been hon­ored as Con­ser­va­tion Orga­ni­za­tion of the Year award, pre­vi­ously win­ing in 2003 as the Black Warrior-Cahaba River Land Trust.

About Alabama Wildlife Federation:
The Alabama Wildlife Fed­er­a­tion, estab­lished by sports­men in 1935, is the state’s old­est and largest cit­i­zens’ con­ser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tion.  The mis­sion of the Alabama Wildlife Fed­er­a­tion, a 501© 3 non-profit group sup­ported by mem­ber­ship dues and dona­tions, is to pro­mote con­ser­va­tion and wise use of Alabama’s wildlife and related nat­ural resources as a basis for eco­nomic and social pros­per­ity.  To learn more about AWF, includ­ing mem­ber­ship details, pro­grams and projects, con­tact Alabama Wildlife Fed­er­a­tion at 1–800-822-WILD or visit www.alabamawildlife.org.