Ontario Nature Conservation Awards

Ontario Nature Award Recipients for 2023-24

Community involvement defines Ontario Nature’s character and approach. With our member groups and individual members, we are the voice for nature in Ontario. Together, we are building a natural legacy for future generations.

This year, the awards celebrated nine inspirational and industrious winners.

Please join us in congratulating and thanking the recipients for their contributions to nature conservation.

Monarch butterfly © James Wheeler

Media and Conservation Award –The Pointer

This award is presented to a nominee who engages in effective communication on one or more conservation issues through the media. Nominated by John Hassell.

The Pointer was founded by award winning journalist San Grewal with a mission to provide local news to communities. Forgoing the traditional physical and advertisement-based style of magazines, The Pointer is a digital only, subscription-based media outlet which allows it to deliver meaningful journalism through top-quality investigations and data-driven content. Their focus is evidence-based journalism.

Throughout the years, The Pointer has kept its focus on local issues in the Brampton, Mississauga and Niagara regions but has not limited itself from reporting on stories of provincial significance. These issues include holding all levels of government to account on environmental issues including the Greenbelt scandal and opposition of highway 413. This has been achieved through in-depth investigation and reporting.

The Pointer staff (left to right) Rachel Morgan, Joel Wittnebel and Alexis Wright © Jenna Quinn

Corporate Award – Save Georgian Bay

This award is given to an organization that has demonstrated outstanding action for protecting the natural environment. Nominated by Edward Appleyard.

Save Georgian Bay is a grassroots, volunteer run organization committed to stopping TC Energy’s proposed pumped storage plant in Meaford, Ontario. This could cause irreparable harm both to the Niagara Escarpment and to the waters of Georgian Bay.

Save Georgian Bay – in partnership with other Georgian Bay and Niagara Escarpment Associations – has contested the greenwashing attempts by TC Energy by exposing the true costs of the station by petitioning about the environmental threats.

Through political engagement, Save Georgian Bay has produced environmental assessments, filed three Federal House of Commons petitions, garnered over 43,500 signatures and engaged with several media outlets. Save Georgian Bay collaborated with partners and mobilized the public to protect the ecosystems of the Niagara Escarpment and Georgian Bay.

Louise Green (left) Tom Buck (right), Save Georgian Bay © Jenna Quinn

Youth Leadership Award – Derek Nguyen

This award is given to a nominee who demonstrated strong environmental leadership in Ontario resulting in notable contributions to environmental protection at a local scale. Nominated by Luke Nguyen.

Derek has been a youth environmental leader since a young age. He co-founded Operation EcoPen which is a recycling program for writing instruments. He has partnered with hospitals, businesses, municipal offices and over 50 schools in the Durham and Toronto District School Boards. The program has diverted thousands of pounds of products of waste from landfills.

Derek has been an active member of the Ontario Nature Youth Council participating in and leading the planting of native pollinator species and removing invasive species. He co-founded Operating EcoPen, which promotes recycling used writing instruments in hospitals, businesses, municipal offices and over 50 schools in the Durham and Toronto District School Boards.

Derek Nugyen

Lee Symmes Municipal Award –City of Richmond Hill

This award is presented to nominees who exhibit exceptional leadership and achievement in planning or implementing programs that protect and regenerate the natural environment. Nominated by Diana Shermet.

Between 2012 and 2022, the City of Richmond Hill increased its tree canopy from 25 to 30% despite the loss of trees from devastating environmental factors and urban development over that period. This achievement represents a net gain of more than 100,000 trees and shrubs.

Richmond Hill’s environmental strategy is guided by three principles: Greening Our Consumption, Greening Our Natural Spaces and Greening Our Growth. Their vision is to ensure Richmond Hill is a community that protects, enhances and restores its natural environment. This has been achieved through a high level of commitment to sustainable development, environmental protection and climate action that are fleshed out in plans and policies that align various departments and partners with specific goals, targets and actions.

Khrysta Lyn, Natural Environment Program Coordinator, City of Richmond Hill © Jenna Quinn

Steve Hounsell Greenway Award – Brian Buckles

This award is given to a group or individual working to preserve a core area or corridor of natural habitat. Nominated by Susan Fleming.

Brian Buckles has worked tirelessly for over fifty years for the protection of green spaces and the conservation of natural habitat along the Oak Ridges Moraine. His primary focus, and superpower, has been to seek out trail linkages in Pickering, Uxbridge and Greenbelt lands. He has consulted with Municipal leaders, politicians, stakeholders and landowners to find the best connections to provide continuous nature green space along these important headwater lands.

His lifetime’s work has culminated in the proposed new Uxbridge Provincial Park which will create a continuous green corridor from Toronto to the conservation lands in the southern part of Uxbridge township and beyond.

Brian Buckles © Jenna Quinn

Education Award – Dr. Sheila Colla

This award is given to a nominee who successfully helps people understand the natural world, so they become enthusiastic supporters of conservation and environmental protection. Nominated by Lorraine Johnson.

Dr. Sheila Colla, an Associate Professor at York University, has mentored hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to do important conservation work in academia, government, NGOs and the private sector. She is one of the first Canadians to quantitatively document the decline of the wild bee which resulted in the rusty-patched bumblebee to be the first federally listed endangered bee in Canada. Her efforts galvanized a community of people and organizations dedicated to conserving imperilled wild bees across North America.

Dr. Colla has been published in over 50 peer-reviewed scientific journals, is an award-winning science author and is a lead partner in BumbleBeeWatch, a successful community science project.

Dr. Sheila Colla

Natural History Award – The Arboretum, University of Guelph

This award is given to a nominee who has achieved a significant goal related to natural history or conservation biology. This year’s award winner is Nominated by Nature Guelph.

The Arboretum has been developing key natural history resources and raising public awareness of natural history since the 1880s. The 165-hectare arboretum was formally established in 1970 with the mission to conserve biodiversity and connect people with nature through teaching, research and community outreach.

For its rich history of connecting people to nature and conserving biodiversity for future generations, we are happy to present the Ontario Nature Natural History Award to The Arboretum, University of Guelph.

Justine Richardson, The Arboretum, University of Guelph © Jenna Quinn

Public Service Award – John Kemp

This award is given to a nominee who has shown distinguished public service that has resulted in an exceptional environmental achievement. Nominated by Brant For Nature.

John Kemp has worked tirelessly since 2010 to eradicate the highly toxic and invasive species, Giant Hogweed, along the Grand River. He has maintained a hands-on and boots on the ground approach often requiring him to don waders or a hazmat suit. He has developed several novel eradication techniques, and continues to adapt and innovate each season.

John founded the Giant Hogweed Mitigation Project which is dedicated to eradicating the plant. He continues his work in the offseason by spreading awareness by presenting at school, engaging with public interest groups and municipalities, and working with groups like the Invasive Plant Council.

Conservation Leadership Award –Larry McCurdy

This award is presented to a nominee who has made an outstanding contribution to the protection of wild species and wild spaces in Ontario. Nominated by Kingston Field Naturalists and Chris Hargreaves.

Larry McCurdy has played key roles with many organizations in the Kingston area for over 50 years including the Kingston Field Naturalists, the Land Conservancy for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, Lemoine Point Conservation Area (Cataraqui Conservation) and the Rideau Trail Association.

He has been chair of the Sanctuary Committee, leader of the Junior Naturalists Program and Board Treasurer of the Kingston Field Naturalists. He was the first Treasurer of the Land Conservancy of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, helping the organization grow as an active land trust. Larry also gets his hands dirty, notably with reforestation projects at Lemoine Point Conservation Area, growing and nurturing hundreds of saplings and organizing volunteer teams to plant them in the field.

Larry McCurdy