County Environmental Awards
Marine wildlife group lauded as steward of the environment
Pacific Wildlife Care and its former leader receive top prize; SLO couple and three other groups also honored
David Sneed
dsneed@thetribunenews.com
Pacific Wildlife Care and its former president, Barbie Dugan, captured top honors in this year’s county environmental awards.
Dugan and the group received the Environmental Achievement of the Year Award for 2006 for the opening of a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Morro Bay. Dugan, who was president at the time of the opening, raised more than $645,000 to construct the center, which can house up to 150 sick or injured birds.
The award carries a prize of $3,000.
Environmental activists Dirk and Bonnie Walters of San Luis Obispo received the Sustained Environmental Contribution Award for their 30 years of activism and leadership in the county with such groups as the Sierra Club and California Native Plant Society.
That award has a prize of $2,000.
Three groups received the Environmental Initiative Award for their use of green building techniques. The award has a prize of $1,000.
They are:
The awards will be presented June 1 at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens. Keynote speaker will be Michael Sutton, vice president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and director of the Center for the Future of the Oceans.
The event is open to the public. For more information, call 543-2323.
The county environmental awards are in their sixth year. They were started with an endowment donation by Lou and Ann Robinson of San Luis Obispo with the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation.
This year’s awards were particularly competitive, Ann Robinson said.
