Page 11 - Sonoma County Gazatte May 2017

Honoring Environmental
Five Grassroots Leaders CA Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to Speak at Environmental Gala
Saturday, June 10, Santa Rosa
By Kerry Fugett
Outspoken California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will
Now a candidate for governor, Newsom is attending
the annual grassroots gala to help honor and recognize five local leaders receiving environmental awards from Sonoma County Conservation Action and Sonoma County Conservation Council: Caryl Hart, June Moes, Dennis Rosatti, Jazmín Gudiño and Teri Shore.
deliver his views as a defender of the environment, gay rights and legal cannabis when he speaks at Sonoma County’s biggest environmental awards dinner of the year from 5 to 9 pm, Saturday, June 10 at the newly remodeled Friedman Center, 4676 Mayette Avenue, Santa Rosa.
Now as Lieutenant Governor of California, Newsom has been a political leader on issues of equality, the environment, homelessness and healthcare.
The grassroots gala will feature Environmental Leader Awards, a fast-paced fundraising auction with Senator Mike McGuire, a locally sourced dinner by A La Heart catering and more. Advance General Admission $70 (before June 1st). General Admission $90 (after June 1st). Tickets, sponsorship and more info available here: www. conservationaction.org/gala
Now, more than ever, we must act to protect our community’s quality of life and provide the bold environmental leadership that Sonoma County needs. We have a vision for a unified movement with sustained feet on the ground, bodies in action, and voices in motion.
Environmental leadership awards winners:
The Upstream Swimmer Award is given to Sonoma County elected or appointed representatives who have shown resolve in the face of adversity in standing for environmental principles despite opposition.
2017 Upstream Swimmer: Caryl Hart, Director, Sonoma County Regional Parks. Hart has led the department since 2010, overseeing the operations of 56 parks, trails and beaches and a staff of 200 full-time and seasonal employees. Though she is leaving her post in June 2017, Hart has volunteered to lead a potential parks ballot measure in 2018, after last year’s funding measure fell just short of the required two-thirds vote. Read more about Caryl here: http://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/About_Us/News/Sonoma_County_Regional_Parks_ Director_Announces_Resignation.aspx
Caryl Hart
The Dick Day Community Activist Award is given to Sonoma County activists who went the extra mile and showed outstanding organization. This award honors the activist spirit in support of the protection and enhancement of our environment.
2017 Dick Day Community Activist Award: June Moes of Santa Rosa, an environmental activist best known for stopping the proposed highway over Spring Lake with a campaign that started 30 years ago with a committee of 2 and a war chest of $5. In 2015, the California Dept. of Transportation took the land out of the State Hwy Plan, allowing the Santa Rosa Southeast Greenway to move forward.
The Bill Kortum Innovative Leader Award honors ingenuity, creativity, innovation in environmental activism and policy.
2017 Bill Kortum Innovative Leader Award: Dennis Rosatti, a well-known and accomplished environmentalist and campaign consultant who was until 2016 the Executive Director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, where he now serves as policy advisor. Mentored by the late Bill Kortum, Rosatti has won multiple awards for his environmental and political campaign successes. Read more about Rosatti here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ dennis-rosatti-85a2626
Dennis Rosatti
2017 Young Environmental Activist of the Year Award: Jazmín Gudiño a Roseland resident, is a Spanish-language interpreter, community organizer and champion
for environmental cause and candidates. Last year she helped push voter engagement in underrepresented communities. She first stepped into advocacy while a student at Elsie Allen High School where she led the effort to raise $75,000 for a group of low income students to participate in the Scotland International Fringe Theatre Festival.
Sonoma County Conservation Council’s Ernestine I. Smith Environmentalist of the Year Award sponsored and presented by Sonoma County Conservation Council to recognize environmental activists.
2017 Sonoma County Environmentalist of the Year Award: Teri Shore,
North Bay Regional Director, Greenbelt Alliance, who is being recognized for leading the community separators campaign last year to win protection of over 53,000 acres from sprawl for the next 20 years Shore also volunteers as chair of the Sierra Club Sonoma Group. Read more here: http://www.greenbelt.org/team/teri-shore/Initiated in 1975, the Environmentalist of the Year Award was named for the inspirational legacy of Ernestine I. Smith, awardee in 1980, and her generation of trail-blazing environmental leaders.
Teri Shore
Sonoma County Conservation Action (SCCA) is the nonpartisan, political arm of Sonoma County’s environmental
movement. http://www.conservationaction.org/ Sonoma County Conservation Council was formed by a federation
of local groups with the aim of pooling resources to protect and restore our environment. Council in 1984 http:// 5/17 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 11 www.envirocentersoco.org/