The Rotary Club of Abbotsford-Matsqui hosted the fifth annual Environmental Leadership Awards of the Fraser Valley on Thursday night at the Ramada Plaza and Conference Centre.
Honours were presented in eight categories to individuals, organizations and businesses that have demonstrated leadership in the stewardship of the environment.
Keynote speaker was Dr. Lenore Newman of the University of the Fraser Valley, Canada research chair in food security and the environment.
Newman, 2015 recipient of the Green Leader Award, spoke about the need to preserve agricultural land.
The recipients of the 2016 awards were:
* Agri-Links (Local Food) – Sumas Mountain Farms who, while producing organic food, were concerned with maintaining the environment, agricultural sustainability and animal welfare;
* Community/Grassroots – Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition, who have shown leadership in the restoration and enhancement of fish and wildlife habitats along the Vedder River floodplain;
* Energy Saver – Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery for reducing their electrical consumption by 66 per cent and their water consumption by 11 billion litres annually;
* Water Saver – Whalen Bishop of University Sprinklers for his work on a project that significantly enhanced the rainwater collection on a commercial chicken farm;
* Green Product or Service – District of Mission engineering department for their curbside-recycling program that has led to a 12 per cent increase in recyclables and compost;
* Green Project – Brian Spear of Lafarge and Joel Shimozawa, technical marketing engineer of Langley Concrete;
* Green Leader of Tomorrow – Alyssa Bougie for conducting a comprehensive waste audit at UFV and increasing student and faculty awareness of environmental sustainability issues; and
* Green Leader – David Hancock for his work with bald eagles, pioneering the first bald eagle cam and establishing the Hancock Wildlife Foundation to promote conservation of wildlife and its habitats through science, education and stewardship.
For more photos from the event, visit the Abbotsford News Facebook page.