Champions of Conservation Awarded by Lake Michigan Stakeholders

Lake Michigan Day is LNRP’s annual event for recognizing people, programs, community groups and businesses that go the extra step to protect and restore Wisconsin's Lake Michigan basin and our quality of life. Each year stakeholders meet to network, share water stories, hear presentations on issues important to stakeholders, and honor Champions of Conservation winners for outstanding achievement related to restoring, protecting or promoting the lake.

This year’s Lake Michigan Day, held virtually on August 14, will celebrate the Champions of Conservation with a lifetime achievement award and four additional champions.  The awards will include a public education institution, a watershed group, a media reporter, and a group working on mitigating the impact of climate change.

To register for Lake Michigan Day, please click the button below.

2020 Award Winners

Life Time Achievement - Bill Mueller

Bill Mueller served as Director of Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory (WGLBBO) since 2010. He succeeded the Observatory’s founder, the late Dr. Noel Cutright, one of the State's leading ornithologists, who died in 2013.

Under Bill’s leadership, the Observatory sponsored scientific meetings, a hawk watch, annual celebrations of World Migratory Bird Day, and butterfly workshops at its home at Forest Beach Migratory Preserve in Port Washington. During his tenure, WGLBBO grew into a highly respected independent non-profit research, education, and conservation advocacy organization. It remains the only bird observatory in the State of Wisconsin.

Mishicot School District

Rebecca Armbruster and Jamie Propson, two teachers within the Mishicot School District, have led efforts to renovate a nature center on school property, rehabilitate trails, eradicate invasive species, and improve environmental curriculum for K-12 students within the district. They have also engaged the community, students, teachers, and staff to participate in these efforts. Partnerships, community work days, grants, and donations have also supported this collaboration. This work contributes to hundreds of students and future generations experiencing nature-based programming, many which would not otherwise have this experience. 

The Mishicot School District has a unique opportunity with their K-12 school buildings adjacent to school owned property with a variety of habitats for outdoor learning. With the property and school co-located, concerns about costs for bus transportation or lunches for off-site location field trips to nature center facilities are eliminated. Habitats include forests, riparian, grasslands, and wetlands. Segments of the East Twin River (connects to Lake Michigan) and Johnson Creek also run through the property.

Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance (FWWA) is an active partner in Lower Fox River (LFR) recovery, currently managing over $6M in GLRI funding for agricultural conservation. FWWA is also the home of the Northeast Wisconsin Stormwater Consortium which provides direct support for communities with urban stormwater permits in the watershed and has worked with WDNR and point sources on alternate compliance options. 

In 2018, FWWA facilitated a water quality trade for Heart of the Valley Wastewater Metropolitan Sewerage District (the first trade in a Total Maximum Daily Load watershed). FWWA has increased public outreach efforts, employing a full time outreach coordinator focused on K-12 education, exhibiting and hosting an annual Cleanup event that engages more than 1,000 volunteers annually. Recently, FWWA staff completed the Winnebago Waterways Lake Management Plan which will guide the recovery process in the Winnebago system (directly upstream of the LFR). FWWA is also serving as the Regional Coordinator for the Winnebago Waterways (WW) funded by the three counties around the system.

Eric Peterson, Fox 11 News

Eric Peterson, an Assignment Reporter with Fox 11 News in Green Bay, often covers conservation stories within northeast Wisconsin. With shrinking advertising revenues, pressures on the media, and other stresses on local news outlets, very few reporters are willing to cover conservation and environmental stories. Eric is one of the few reporters that seeks out conservation stories that air weekly on the nightly news.

He is a one-person-show that reaches out to conservation professionals and their organizations for story ideas, conducts interviews, edits, and produces his own stories. He goes out of his way to understand his topics and gain firsthand knowledge. Eric takes boat trips with fish biologists on rough waters, tromps through muddy farm fields to understand management practices that improve water quality, seeds wild rice on blustery days in November in Lower Green Bay, and travels to remote islands to document preservation projects.

Dick and Mary Smythe: Climate Change Coalition of Door County

Dick and Mary founded the Climate Change Coalition of Door County more than seven years ago and have been the driving force behind the Coalition since its formation, tirelessly doing the lion’s share of the work. 

Prior to the founding of the Coalition, no organization in northeast Wisconsin focused on the crucial issue of global warming and very little education on the science of climate change, its impacts, or on mitigation and adaptation strategies was available. Raising awareness and understanding of climate issues, and thereby fostering the political will to act, is crucial to the future health of the Great Lakes, our communities and agriculture. Mary and Dick realized the responsibility of Great Lakes communities to lead on this issue and took the helm.