Southern Colorado Conservation Awards
Protecting the places we love. Keeping southern Colorado…Colorado. Conservation is about more than the environment. It’s about people…and communities. Our quality of life, health, and economy are rooted in Colorado’s natural landscape.
Colorado faces some of the greatest conservation challenges in the nation. And it responds with some of the greatest conservation successes—championed by people for whom protecting important places, leading by example, teaching our children about the natural world, and setting new benchmarks for a sustainable future are a part of their daily lives. The Southern Colorado Conservation Awards (SCCA) honors the significant achievements of individuals and organizations that, through their conservation efforts, advance the future wellbeing of southern Colorado’s communities, people, ecologies, and economies.
Building upon the Stuart P. Dodge Award event, which occurred in conjunction with the Colorado College State of the Rockies Conference between 1999 and 2009, SCCA focuses on conservation achievements in the broadest sense—knowing that successful conservation involves more than just resource protection; it involves a wide variety of champions across political, educational, business, research, and land management arenas.
- The Stuart P. Dodge Award (focus: lifetime achievement)
- The Friends of Open Space Award (focus: recent land protection achievement)
- The Stewardship Award (focus: exceptional environmental stewardship)
- The Innovation in Conservation Award (focus: innovative projects & programs)
Award winners are nominated by citizens across southern Colorado and chosen by an independent Blue Ribbon Panel, composed of community leaders from Colorado Springs and Pueblo. The 2012 Panelists include Pueblo County Commissioner Jeff Chostner, Bee Vradenburg Foundation President Phillip Kendall, Colorado Nature Conservancy past President Kathy Loo, Rocky Mountain PBS retired Station Manager Wynona Sullivan, and El Pomar President and Chief Investment Officer Thayer Tutt.
To learn about the 2011 award winners, watch the documentary films produced by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens.
