Bayou greenway
Honorees at virtual event also include Special Recognition recipients, Bag Free Bayous and Houston Parks Board’s Bayou Greenways 2020 project
The Bayou Preservation Association’s 11th annual Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Awards luncheon will be presented virtually on July 14 and will honor Jill Boullion and Terri Thomas as stewards in improving the health of bayous in the greater Houston area. The prestigious award, named for the late Terry Hershey, honors individuals for their outstanding commitment to aiding in the conservation, preservation, restoration or advocacy of Houston’s waterways. Awardees are selected from among the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Due to COVID-19 postponement in 2020, Bayou Preservation Association is honoring 2020’s awardees in 2021.
Boullion, Executive Director of the Bayou Land Conservancy, is the honoree in the Nonprofit Sector category of the Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Awards, and Thomas, a long-time community supporter of bayous and the environment, has been tapped in the Private Sector category. These two individuals exemplify the high standards of conservationism set forth by Hershey, a life-long environmentalist and co-founder of the Bayou Preservation Association.
The Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Awards were created specifically to honor individuals who follow in Terry Hershey’s footsteps and build on her legacy of tireless advocacy, support, and leadership in bayou preservation. In recent years, the organization has also seen merit in recognizing additional categories of honorees that also contribute to these efforts. Hence, Bayou Preservation Association established a Special Recognition category in 2019.
Lila Mankad, Caoilin Krathaus
There are two Special Recognition recipients this year: teen environmental advocates Caoilin Krathaus and Lila Mankad, for their student-led initiative known as Bag Free Bayous, and the Houston Parks Board, for Bayou Greenways 2020, a transformative project for encouraging the public to appreciate our region’s bayous, with 150 miles of accessible trails and 3,000 acres of greenspace.
“We are thrilled to finally celebrate these stellar honorees after having to postpone the 2020 luncheon due to COVID-19,” says Paul Nelson, Board Chairman of Bayou Preservation Association. “Our two Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship awardees, Jill Boullion and Terri Thomas, have demonstrated an ongoing zeal in protecting our waterways through their advocacy, professions and community work. They exemplify the best of Houston’s ‘can do’ spirit in preserving our natural environment and improving our collective quality of life.”
“The Bayou Preservation Association is also pleased to recognize Caoilin and Lila for Bag Free Bayous, which tackles the problem of plastic waste in our bayous, along with the Houston Parks Board for Bayou Greenways 2020,” Nelson continues. “The work of these Special Recognition recipients complements our CPR mission, which is to ’Celebrate, Protect and Restore’ the richness of our bayous and streams, with a vision of healthy waterways.”
Funds raised from the Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Awards luncheon will support the Bayou Preservation Association’s mission. Ongoing programs include stream corridor restoration, bayou citizen science, trash-free bayous, and bayou appreciation. These programs help ensure that our bayous are clean, healthy and accessible for all to enjoy.
Jill Boullion
Jill Boullion is a professional Community and Economic Developer and Executive Director of Bayou Land Conservancy (BLC). BLC is an accredited land trust, founded in 1996, that has preserved 14,000 acres of stream corridors in the greater Houston region, primarily through conservation easements. BLC preserves land along streams to reduce flooding, improve water quality, and protect habitat in the Lake Houston (upper San Jacinto River) watershed, which is the primary source of drinking water for millions of people in the region. BLC also manages the award-winning, 14-mile Spring Creek Nature Trail, a project built by the community, for the community. Before coming to BLC, Boullion was Executive Director of Greens Bayou Coalition and helped bring a $55-million federal flood damage reduction project, a paddle trail and new parks to the watershed.
Terri Thomas
Terri Thomas has a decades-long commitment to both our bayous and our environment generally. In 1997, she developed the STOMP (STOpping Mosquito Proliferation) program with Harris County Mosquito Control, mayors of six Memorial Villages and two national companies. There she recruited and trained 400 volunteers to go door-to-door educating homeowners about mosquito breeding and control. Thomas has served on many local nonprofit boards, including Bayou Preservation Association, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, WindSync, Air Alliance Houston and Memorial Park Conservancy, where she established and chaired important community events like Earth Day Houston and championed flood-related issues, including nature-based solutions to trash and erosion control.
Sponsorship opportunities are available from $225 for individual tickets up to $10,000 for a virtual table. Visit https://bayoupreservation.networkforgood.com/events/29137-2021-terry-hershey-bayou-stewardship-award-luncheon to purchase tickets,
To learn more about the Bayou Preservation Association and potential volunteer opportunities, visit our website at www.bayoupreservation.org.
Photo caption: The Bayou Preservation Association’s 11th annual Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Awards luncheon will be presented virtually on July 14 and will honor Jill Boullion and Terri Thomas as stewards in improving the health of bayous in the greater Houston area. The prestigious award, named for the late Terry Hershey, honors individuals for their outstanding commitment to aiding in the conservation, preservation, restoration or advocacy of Houston’s waterways. Photos courtesy of Bayou Preservation Association.