SERNW awarded its Conservationist of the Year, Presidents Award and Special Award at its Regional Conference in Redmond Oregon October 7, 2014. Tim Lillebo, environmental activist and wildlands advocate of the non-profit Oregon Wild, was posthumously awarded Conservationist of the Year, for his lifetime of advocacy for Oregon’s wild places and successful collaborative approach to restoring forests in Eastern Oregon, particularly the Deschutes National Forest. Sadly Tim died last January; but his wife Karen Lillebo was able to accept the award, along with Chandra LeGue of Oregon Wild.


The President’s Award, this year given for outstanding collaborative projects, went to the National Riparian Service Team, whose work in the Klamath Basin began as an effort in 2003 to restore five miles of stream working with one landowner, and has led to a basin-wide agreement between Tribes, landowners, non-profits, and government agencies. The agreement, signed in April this year, will restore 233 miles of interlocking stream reaches and provide critically important spawning and rearing habitat for endangered fish– while stabilizing the agricultural community.


SERNW’s Special Award is this year given with special pleasure to our outgoing Web/Publications Board director Alaine Sommargren, whose work over two Board terms launched our new website, assisted in creating our Restoration Highlights feature, was integral to the success of our 20th Anniversary celebration, and created the web page and coordinated registration for our 2014 Collaborative Restoration Regional Conference, among many other things. Best wishes to Alaine on the impending birth of her first child!