Sierra Club - Oklahoma Chapter

2005-06 Award Recipients

• Outstanding Public Servant Award

• Carrie Dickerson Award for Outstanding Leadership in Conservation

• Outstanding Service Award

• Distinguished Service Award

• Outstanding Leadership Award

• Conservation Journalism Award

• Environmental Education Award

• Earth Care Award

Outstanding Public Servant Award: Miles Tolbert, Secretary of the Environment

Award given to an Oklahoman for outstanding commitment and/or public service consistent with the conservation ideals of the Sierra Club.  Given to a politician or government official.

Secretary of the Environment Miles Tolbert has been chosen by the Oklahoma Sierra Club to receive their Outstanding Public Servant Award.  Members who attended last year’s banquet will remember Miles as the person who introduced 2005’s award winner, Drew Edmondson. He also participated in our 2004 event held at the Oklahoma Aquarium. 

Leadership is a key element in accomplishing anything. The Sierra Club has a unique opportunity to commend the leadership role that Miles Tolbert has played for our great state of Oklahoma.  Leadership sets the tone for all actions and our State Secretary of the Environment has lead us in the right direction; putting together a team to target trouble spots such as the Illinois River Watershed and Tar Creek. He sends his Chief of Staff, JD Strong to the legislature to fight for the Environment and this year it has been a fight, you know you are on the right track when legislation targets your involvement. (HB 2555)  His role in the Agreement Principles with Arkansas along with Duane Smith and Ed Fite should be applauded.  His open office policy to grass roots organizations is commendable, and his willingness to participate in Sierra Club events, is greatly appreciated.  Governor Henry stated that his “work is essential to our public safety and quality of life both now and for generations to come.”

Secretary Tolbert was appointed as Oklahoma’s fourth Secretary of the Environment on January 8, 2003. In that position he coordinates the activities of the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Wildlife Conservation, and the Water Resources Board.

In 2003 Secretary Tolbert negotiated an agreement with the State of Arkansas to dramatically reduce phosphorus discharges to Oklahoma’s Scenic Rivers. In 2004 he led the successful effort to relocate families from the most dangerous part of t he Tar Creek Superfund Site. He is currently representing Governor Henry in discussions with the state’s Indian tribes aimed at forging a unified environmental regulatory system.

A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, Secretary Tolbert came to state service from the firm of Crowe & Dunlevy in Oklahoma City. He had previously served for several years as Chief of the Environmental Protection Unit in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office and had earlier practiced in Washington, D.C. as a trial attorney for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. Secretary Tolbert is past president of the Environmental Law Section of the Oklahoma Bar Association and a member of the Association’s Mineral Law Section.

• Click to read what the Governor had to say about Miles Tolbert

• Click to hear a mp3 audio file of Secretary Tolbert's remarks

• Click to hear a mp3 audio file of the awards ceremony after Secretary Tolbert spoke.

Carrie Dickerson Award for Outstanding Leadership in Conservation

Very special award given to an individual for long-term, total commitment and outstanding leadership in the area of conservation.  This award is not given on a regular basis.  It represents the highest award given by the Oklahoma Chapter. 

Rebecca Jim heads the Local Environmental Action Demanded (L.E.A.D.) Agency, a non-profit corporation that in part takes action to counter environmental hazards that put Northeast Oklahoma's residents at risk both physically and financially.  The agency's efforts are enhanced by partnering with other environmental organizations throughout Oklahoma and the nation.  Although Rebecca will not take the credit for it, her efforts over the years called attention to the Tar Creek travesty seriously jeopardizing the health and well-being of the people in her area of the state. She has testified to Congress, organized conferences and events, written many letters and continually sent press releases pointing out the situation to the media.

When the mining companies pulled out of the Pitcher Mining Field, they left behind 40 square miles of mine tailings (aka “chat”), 300 miles of underground tunnels which are now collapsing, more than 1,320 open or poorly sealed mine shafts and thousands of drill holes, some of which would reach the upper aquifer. Tar Creek became a Superfund site nearly twenty-five years ago and by 1993, adverse health effects had been documented. However, the problem continued since the immense damage exceeded the resources of every agency vested with responsibility to manage it. Also, the legal situation of the site being on Quapaw Nation tribal land was complicated.

While working as a counselor at Miami High School, Rebecca mobilized the students and their parents into the Cherokee Volunteer Society to deal with the ramifications of this environmental disaster.  Rebecca and her volunteers took the issue of Tar Creek’s toxicity into the awareness of the public, the media and finally, the government officials who could actually do something about it.  About ten years ago, they began to hold an annual Tar Creek National Conference to address problems and possible solutions and organized a toxic tour and fishing tournament to provide a visual of a toxic creek with no fish. They have brought in many experts from across the country and have solicited assistance from environmental justice organizations.

The Carrie Dickerson Award for Outstanding Leadership in Conservation is only given to someone who devotes their entire life to a particular environmental issue in Oklahoma as Carrie Dickerson did during the seventies to prevent Black Fox nuclear power plant’s construction in the Claremore area.  This is why we have bestowed upon Rebecca Jim.

Outstanding Service Award: Paul Moore

Traditionally given to one Sierra Club member who has worked consistently and outstandingly at the Chapter or Group level, contributing his/her time and talent in a way which has been of significant benefit to the Oklahoma Chapter. Our top award, the winner represents our Sierran of the Year

Paul has been an effective leader for the Club on conservation issues for the past ten years, working in a remarkably quiet and calm, but also intelligent and persistent, way.  He is an effective leader and keeps us focused on priority issues plus Paul always listens to what others have to say, is a strong team member and is a pleasure to work with. 

Paul always follows through on what he says he will do and offers help in the many emergencies that arise.  Paul’s efforts to respond and organize others on hot issues were critical to having the Chapter weigh in on many important issues over the years.  He took the time to read every email and document sent to him, provided a rapid response, sent out alerts and helped get volunteers involved. 

Paul always participated in reviewing documents and making decisions on conservation issues.  He has been especially helpful in focusing our efforts on issues, developing strategy and acting as a sounding board and an idea man.  Paul has shown tremendous leadership in particular on forest issues, and we hope he will remain involved on this issue as he steps down as chapter conservation chair and member of the executive committee.

Paul’s input has always been extremely thoughtful and his comments carefully worded – they revealed that underneath his calm and rather quiet outward appearance he has an exceptional depth and scope of knowledge of important issues, but he never takes credit.  You could always count on Paul to write letters to the editor and get others to do the same and to make phone calls to Congressional offices on many issues. He has been a great representative for the Club on visits to elected officials such as Representative Brad Carson and in efforts to educate others on sound energy decisions, the farm bill, water and forestry issues. 

Distinguished Service Award

Award given to individual members for work done at the group or chapter level which is beyond the normal call of duty.  That is, a person who is a committee chair at the group level who performs his or her duties at the standard level may be deserving of an award at the group level but not at the chapter level, while a person or chairperson who devotes significantly more effort than is expected, or makes particularly outstanding contributions in some way, may be deserving of recognition of distinguished service.  Distinguished service awards may be given for work in various areas, e.g., outings, conservation, political activism, legislative, administration or overall efforts.  Only a limited number of these awards will be given in any one year.

Distinguished Service Award:  Martha Gregory

In her third year as chair of the Green Country Group, Martha Gregory has exhibited exemplary leadership qualities. She has smoothly run the group while making it look like an easy job, which we all know it is not. During this time, she has worked with BEC Coordinator Billie Brown on BEC projects, including the new statewide water coalition. Martha has been our chapter CAFO issue chair, writing articles and fact sheets as needed. As a research librarian, she has also assisted with locating needed information for current issues and policies. Martha is another volunteer who has the courage to tackle the tough jobs rather than whining about why she cannot do them.

 Distinguished Service Award:  Olivia Waldkoetter

           Olivia Waldkoetter has been accepting tough positions that most volunteers shrink away from, including that of Cimarron Group chair that she is now holding for the second year. When she first started becoming active with the Club, she was involved with the outings aspect, but soon saw the need for many other programs. Her first job was that of group legislative chair and member of the chapter legislative committee. Since then, Olivia has taken on many tasks of benefit to the chapter, including serving as a Sierra Summit Delegate, serving on the Building Environmental Communities (BEC) Steering Committee, serving as vice-chair of the chapter legislative committee and helping with a national outings training event last year.  While everyone is else is giving excuses, she steps up to the task.

Outstanding Leadership Award:  Jennifer Gooden

This is a new award for this year.  The awards committee decided that we needed to recognize new leaders in the environmental movement.  While we expect many great things from these leaders in the future, we wanted to acknowledge the tremendous beginnings that they demonstrate.

Jennifer Gooden has accomplished a great deal in the past year.  As the founder and president of Sustainable OKC, she began with a small group of young adults who were interested in sustainability.  By reaching out to others interested in the crossroads of business, environment, and social justice, she has expanded the group to include over forty people and has several exciting projects in the works, including a second lecture and discussion on smart growth and urban redevelopment, a project researching the potential to update building codes in Oklahoma City, and a regular volunteer group at the Regional Food Bank.  She has worked tirelessly to set up an organizational structure that will support the group’s diverse interests and provide a framework for their efforts.  

Through her position as President-Elect of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network leadership as well as through her outstanding work as Program Coordinator for the Homeless Alliance, Jennifer has helped connect, motivate and educate a diverse group of organizations, groups and individuals. Currently a member of the 2006 class of Leadership Oklahoma City, Jennifer has already been selected as a recipient of the “Forty under Forty” award for outstanding accomplishments by residents of Oklahoma City.

It is clear to those who know her that Jennifer is a natural leader.  Quick to smile, she listens openly to all opinions and treats her peers with respect.  She conscientiously seeks out opportunities for collaboration and focuses on projects that are beneficial to all stakeholders.  Jennifer leads by example, showing a personal commitment to living a minimal impact lifestyle in accordance with the principles she advocates.

She is one of those rare individuals who come along once in a generation to change and enrich the world. With her intelligence, humor, caring nature and most of all her passion, she has taken the opportunity (some would say chance) to step up and help lead Oklahoma into a more environmental, sustainable and equitable future. Although many talented young Oklahomans leave the state in pursuit of their dreams, Jennifer, a Harvard graduate, chose to return to her home state where she immediately sought involvement in environmental issues.

Jennifer embodies the following quote; “So many of our dreams first seem impossible, then they seem improbable and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable” – Christopher Reeve.

Conservation Journalism Award:  The EnvironMentor Newsletter

     Award given to an individual or organization, generally in the print, TV or radio media for outstanding reporting on environmental issues

    For nearly ten years, thousands of teachers and environmental educators in the Sooner state have relied on the12-page jam-packed EnvironMentor newsletter for its comprehensive coverage of upcoming events, funding opportunities, important resources, sustainability issues and timely news of interest.

    This free treasure trove of information has been sponsored by two statewide environmental education organizations, Oklahoma Environmental Education Association (OKAEE) and Oklahoma Environmental Education Coordinating Committee (OKEECC), and mailed by the Oklahoma Sierra Club. 

    The final issue will be distributed in April, 2006.  PDF versions of all issues published since 2001 can be downloaded on the internet at: www.okaee.org.

Environmental Education Award: Ilda Hershey

Award given to an individual, special group, or institution providing the greatest effort to inform citizens (general public, students, or special target groups) with information that would be valuable to their process of critical thinking and decision-making in the areas of environmental education.

Through Ilda’s volunteer efforts on the Stillwater Recycling Coalition (now Sustainable Stillwater), the Stillwater Recycling Guide was produced. Approximately 25,000 of these comprehensive reference guides for Stillwater residents who have items available for reuse or recycling have been distributed to Stillwater residents. She has also contributed to the promotion of the recycling program through newspaper articles, community forums, and with an Interactive Recycling Education Display at community events such as Audubon Society Nature day, Farmer’s Market, Lights on Stillwater.

Ilda coordinated storm drain marking activities in collaboration with the City of Stillwater, Blue Thumb, OSU, Stillwater Girl Scouts, and 4-H volunteers and as well as coordinating a community education outreach campaign through Sustainable Stillwater.  She organized public education forums for the greater Stillwater community such as Building a Sustainable Stillwater by Dianne Wilkins, pollution prevention specialist and The Fifth Façade by Jay Yowell, sustainable design architect as well as planning many environmental movie nights for ECO-OSU and Sustainable Stillwater.  As a founding member of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network (OSN), Ilda served on OSN’s conference planning committee 2002 and 2003, and as committee co-chair 2004 and chair 2005. She was the recipient of OSN’s Emma McCauley Sustainability Award in 2004 and is currently serving as the chair of Sustainable Stillwater.

Ilda’s activities with the Department of Environmental Quality include participation in a DEQ promotional campaign for America Recycles Day geared at informing the community about the benefits recycling and how to recycle properly and serves on the Oklahoma Recycling Association’s executive Board, chairing the Waste Exchange Workgroup. She has provided exemplary copy editing for the EnvironMentor newsletter for the past five years, as well as many other environmental publications.

Ilda is the leader of the DEQ volunteer Green Team, with one her many tasks to lead environmental education efforts for DEQ staff through arrangement of educational speakers at brown bag lunch sessions. Ilda also provides interactive sessions at big environmental education events such as ScienceFest, H2Oklahoma and the Clean Water Act Festival.

Earth Care Award:  DEQ Green Team

Award given to an environmentally conscious business or organization. particularly one that promotes recycling efforts.

About two years ago, a group of DEQ employees began to meet regularly at lunchtime to discuss ways to improve DEQ’s own environmental stewardship practices.  This employee-driven group evolved into the DEQ Green Team, an informal committee with representation from all divisions as well as support and encouragement from management.

Green Team members implement creative solutions to reduce office waste, increase energy efficiency, plan low maintenance landscaping and provide employee environmental outreach.  The Team considers these actions to be good stewardship.  DEQ asks others to be good stewards; so, it makes sense that DEQ employees should be good stewards as well – both at home and at work.

Although DEQ has a long-standing, in-house recycling program for items such as paper, cardboard, aluminum, plastic and glass, the Green Team has identified additional items that can be diverted from the landfill.  Many DEQ divisions now collect spent coffee grounds from coffee machines around the building.  The Green Team provides buckets for employees to take this valuable resource home to use in their compost piles and gardens.  Members collect copy paper wrappers that cannot be recycled with office paper and give them to schools and art centers for arts and crafts projects.  The Green Team now collects batteries separately for proper disposal, and has conducted research to determine the impact of fluorescent light bulb disposal.

The Green Team also encourages office supply reuse and keeps a collection of conference name-badge holders and coffee mugs for reuse.  Even used sneakers have been collected and donated to Nike for their “Reuse-A-Shoe” program.  This program produces “Nike Grind,” a rubbery composite that is used for running, court and other athletic surfaces.

In support of energy and resource efficiency, Green Team members report leaky faucets, turn off unnecessary lighting, and provide instructions on how to print and copy double-sided documents.  The Green Team regularly posts energy and resource efficiency tips to DEQ’s electronic employee bulletin board.  They have arranged for an OU architectural class to perform an energy audit this year and provide the agency with a performance plan for increased operations efficiency.

          Another venue for employee outreach is a monthly “Brown Bag” lunch discussion, which features a brief informal presentation followed by facilitated discussion.  All employees are invited and encouraged to bring their own “waste-free” lunch (reusable food containers, drink containers and utensils

In an effort to beautify the grounds of the main DEQ office in Oklahoma City, Green Team members installed low-maintenance vegetation in planters around the building and contacted a local university to provide landscaping plans.  Proposed landscaping around the building’s visitor parking lot would include native plants, a butterfly garden and interpretive signage.  The signage would highlight Xeriscape landscape features such as the use of plants and trees that are native to Oklahoma and thus require little water, fertilizer or pesticide application.

The main goal of the DEQ Green Team is to promote an agency-wide culture of environmental stewardship and increased environmental awareness.  By “walking the talk” DEQ employees can take pride in our own conservation practices and set a good example for others.