FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Prairie Rivers Network to Award River Steward, Outstanding Public Servants, and Volunteers of The Year
Contact: Jeff Kohmstedt, Prairie Rivers Network, jkohmstedt@prairierivers.org, 217-344-2371 ext. 207
CHAMPAIGN, IL – Prairie Rivers Network (PRN) will celebrate the volunteer activities of several award winners from across Illinois at the PRN Annual Fundraising Dinner on October 25th beginning at 6:00pm at the I Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 S 1st St, Champaign, Illinois.
State Senator Scott Bennett and State Representative Carol Ammons of Champaign, Illinois and State Representative Mike Marron of Danville, Illinois will receive this year’s Outstanding Public Servants Award for their work on the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act which became law in July. The new law puts Illinois on a path to solving its coal ash problem.
Fred Newport of Champaign, Illinois will receive this year’s River Steward Award for his volunteer work at the Homer Lake Forest Preserve and Kaufman Lake in Champaign. Newport volunteered 120+ days last year removing acres of invasive species along the shoreline and fishing out trash from the lakes.
Finally, Randy and Grace Madding of Makanda, Illinois will receive this year’s Volunteers of the Year Award for their dedication to protecting biodiversity and pollinators, and in helping Prairie Rivers Network expand its pollinator program.
“Prairie Rivers Network is most proud to recognize these dedicated award winners for their commitment to protecting our water, healing our land, and inspiring change in others,” PRN Executive Director Elliot Brinkman said. “Their work embodies what it means to be a steward for the environment.”
The keynote speakers will be Jonathan Lundgren, a former USDA scientist and an outspoken critic of industrial agriculture, particularly those practices and chemicals that have been catastrophic for biodiversity. He received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
At Prairie Rivers Network (PRN), we protect water, heal land, and inspire change. Using the creative power of science, law, and collective action, we protect and restore our rivers, return healthy soils and diverse wildlife to our lands, and transform how we care for the earth and for each other. PRN is the Illinois affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation.
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