Given each year for outstanding commitment to Houston’s waterways
HOUSTON, December 19, 2018 – The Bayou Preservation Association announces a call for entries for the 2019 Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Award with a deadline of Jan. 9, 2019. The prestigious award, named for the late Terese (Terry) Hershey, is given annually to recognize members in the community who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to aiding in the conservation, preservation, restoration and/or advocacy of Houston’s waterways.
Nominees for the award can be from the nonprofit, public or private sectors. The recipient(s) will be honored at Bayou Preservation Association’s 2019 Luncheon, scheduled for May 21 at The Junior League of Houston. A panel of judges will determine the award winner(s).
Mark Kramer and Terry Hershey The Bayou Preservation Association announces a call for entries for the Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Award, named for environmental activist and civic leader Terry Hershey, pictured here with 2015 winner Mark Kramer. Entries are due Jan. 9, 2019. Photo courtesy of Bayou Preservation Association.
Criteria to be considered for the nominee include:
- What have been his or her primary activities to celebrate, protect, and/or restore our region’s bayous, streams and watersheds, including the name of a specific waterway or waterways where the nominee has made an impact?
- How has the individual advanced or influenced local efforts to improve bayou appreciation (e.g. getting people out into nature through activities such as paddling, hiking, exploring); bayou citizen science (e.g. improving our knowledge about stream water quality); stream corridor restoration (e.g. promoting natural channel restoration, removing non-native exotic plants, or planting native plants); and/or trash-free bayous (e.g. promoting trash cleanups, educating people about how to prevent trash in our local waterways).
- How has the nominee been engaged with Bayou Preservation Association or other bayou organizations?
The Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Award was instituted in 2010. In 2013 the award was presented to former President George H.W. Bush and developer George Mitchell for their roles (along with environmentalist Hershey) in saving Buffalo Bayou from channelization by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s. (Bush was a Congressman at the time.) Thanks to these forward-thinking individuals much of Buffalo Bayou and other area bayous have remained in a mostly natural state, providing plant and animal habitats, green spaces, and recreational opportunities for countless local residents and visitors.
Other past winners of the Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Award include:
- 2018 – Mary Anne Piacentini (President and CEO of Katy Prairie Conservancy)
- 2017 – The Honorable Jack Cagle (Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner); Deborah January-Bevers (Houston Wilderness President and CEO) and Dick Benoit (Environmental Services Consultant)
- 2016 – Ed Wulfe (Houston developer) and John Blount (Harris County Engineer)
- 2015 – Mark Kramer (Ecologist with Armand Bayou Nature Center)
- 2014 – Jim Robertson (Cypress Creek Greenway Coalition founder)
- 2012 – Hugh Barrett (First president of Bayou Preservation Association and long-time volunteer)
- 2011 – Arthur Storey (Engineer and former director of Harris County Flood Control District)
Attendees of the Bayou Preservation Association’s 2017 Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Award luncheon raise their hands to show support for bayou preservation. Nominations for the 2019 award are due Jan. 9, 2019.
Please visit the Bayou Preservation Association website at http://www.bayoupreservation.org/News-Events/Awards to learn more about the Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Award. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 9, 2019. The required information can be sent in the body of an email to info@bayoupreservation.org.
About Bayou Preservation Association
The mission of the Bayou Preservation Association is to celebrate, protect and restore the natural richness of all our bayous and streams, with a vision of a network of healthy bayous, streams and watersheds. It works to Increase understanding of area bayous and creeks and their watersheds by providing educational programs and opportunities, activities and events to engage all the region’s demographics. Bayou Preservation Association also strives to expand stewardship and stewardship opportunities to improve the health of our watersheds, creeks, and bayous. For information, go to bayoupreservation.org or call 713-529-6443.