Each year, the Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference provides an opportunity to honor the contributions that individual practitioners have made to California's fisheries restoration field. Recipients are nominated for one of three award categories by their colleagues prior to the conference, and their achievements are celebrated during the Conference Cabaret and Banquet.
John Green, Lead Scientist and Project Manager for the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District, recieved the 2015 Restorationist of the Year Award for his tireless efforts to manage a diverse array of projects geared at restoring habitat for salmon, and for his generosity in sharing his knowledge and expertise through speaking events, webinars, and articles.
Evan Engber, President and Chief Bioengineer for BioEngineering Associates, Inc., was awarded the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Engber has spent the last 30 years restoring watersheds using Bioengineering Technology. He is an innovator credited with bringing this long standing technology into current usage, adapting the existing techniques to current problems, and creating new techniques to extend the breadth of the technology. This award honors the contributions that he has made to fisheries restoration over the course of his professional career, including combining bioengineering technology with the latest information about fish habitat structures to create bioengineered structures that incorporate elements such as large woody debris and boulders to create excellent habitat for salmonids.
Thomas Dunklin of Thomas B. Dunklin Productions was the recipient of the 2015 Golden Pipe, an award for innovators in the salmon restoration field. Mr. Dunklin was nominated for this award because of his innovative photography and videography work in the fisheries and watershed fields. His images and video footage of fish, restoration projects, and Native American culture capture and convey the importance of healthy watersheds and salmonid populations. The panoramic images and time-lapse videos he produces effectively communicate to both experts and lay people the beauty of wild salmon and watersheds, as well as the steps required to restore watersheds.
Click here to listen to Richard Gienger, Restorationist of the Year Award Winner from the 1990s, interview Thomas Dunklin, John Green, and Evan Engber on KMUD Community Radio. This radio segment aired March 30, 2015.
Additional information about these awards, including winners from previous years, can be found here.