The Wilburforce Conservation Leadership Award is part of a series of grants to individuals that is intended to honor exceptional leadership in the conservation movement. As part of its existing grantmaking, Wilburforce Foundation devotes a substantial part of its resources to assisting organizations in developing and strengthening their administrative, strategic and programmatic capabilities. With this award, we are extending our support to provide recognition to the hard-working individuals who help lead those organizations.

The Conservation Leadership Award includes a cash award of US$10,000 to the individual, plus an accompanying US$5,000 to the organization where the recipient works. There are no stipulations attached to the award. "It's our wish that the recipients use the funds however they'd like," says Tim Greyhavens, Executive Director of the Foundation. "This award truly is for the individual as our way of recognizing outstanding dedication and extraordinary efforts."

Recipients of the Conservation Leadership Award are selected by the Board of Directors of Wilburforce Foundation from among our existing grantees. There is no recommendation or application process for the award.

2009 Award Winners

December 2009

Regna Merritt (Portland, OR)
Regna Merritt is the Executive Director of Oregon Wild in Portland, Oregon. In 1991, one week after logging began in her favorite forest, Regna left a medical career to join the staff of Oregon Wild (then Oregon Natural Resources Council). She first supervised the “Adopt-A-Grove” program and later coordinated efforts to permanently protect old-growth forests in Opal Creek and the Bull Run (source of Portland’s drinking water) through the Oregon Resources Conservation Act. She became Executive Director in 1999 and has since led a wide range of efforts to help protect Oregon's wild places. She loves playing her cello, hiking, kayaking and being with her family and friends.

John Weaver (Bozeman, MT)
John Weaver is a senior conservation biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society. He roams across the Yellowstone-to-Yukon region of the United States and Canada to conduct field research and conservation initiatives – primarily on large carnivores and ungulates. Most recently, he conducted pioneering field studies on grizzly bears, Dall’s sheep and woodland caribou in the remote area surrounding Nahanni National Park, a World Heritage Site in the Northwest Territories of Canada. John’s research and recommendations provided the scientific basis for the 7-fold expansion of the Park announced in 2009 by the Canadian government and the Dehcho First Nations. John has authored numerous scientific publications and serves as a reviewer for five scientific journals. John graduated from the Honors Program at Utah State University, earned his Ph.D. at the University of Montana, and spent a semester at Yale University as Visiting Scholar. He stewards a small ranch in western Montana where he raises and trains horses.

June 2009

Pam Miller (Fairbanks, AK)
Pam Miller is Arctic Program Director at the Northern Alaska Environmental Center in Fairbanks, Alaska. Pam is an arctic researcher who specializes in cumulative environmental and human impacts of North Slope Alaska oil and gas development. For eight years she served the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including as wildlife biologist for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on bird studies and evaluating impacts of North Slope oil development. Previously Pam worked for The Wilderness Society as Assistant Regional Director in Anchorage, as Alaska Program Director for The Wilderness Society in Washington DC, and as Chair of the Alaska Coalition working nationwide to protect the Arctic Refuge. She has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from The Evergreen State College and M.S. in Journalism from the University of Oregon.

2008 Award Winners

December 2008

Ed Lewis (Bozeman, MT)
Ed Lewis of Bozeman, Montana, is an organizational and planning consultant for many conservation group and foundations. In his work he calls upon his many years of experience as former Executive Director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Chairman of the Board of the Arizona Nature Conservancy and member of the Arizona Commission on the Environment. Ed has played important roles in Wild and Scenic Rivers designations, mining and oil and gas leasing reform, wolf recovery, Land and Water Conservation Fund appropriations, and Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act reauthorization. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Earthjustice, Training Resources for the Environmental Community (TREC) and LaSalle Adams Fund.

October 2008

Brock Evans (Washington, DC)
Brock Evans is President of the Endangered Species Coalition, which he has led since 1997. Prior to assuming leadership of the ESC, Evans served as Vice President for National Issues for the National Audubon Society for 15 years. He earlier served for eight years as Director of the Sierra Club’s Washington DC Office and for six more years as the Club’s Northwest Representative. His major focus in these positions was on forest, wilderness, and energy policies, especially as they affected public lands. Evans has also done scholarly work at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, as a Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, and teaching in Israel as a Visiting Professor at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. He is married to Linda Garcia, a Professor and Director of a Masters Program at Georgetown University (Communications, Culture and Technology) and is the father of two sons, Joshua and Noah, and stepson, Stephen Garcia.

September 2008

Stan Senner (Anchorage, AK)
Stan Senner has been Executive Director of Audubon Alaska since 1999. Stan has a long history of conservation science and policy work, including serving as the Alaska Representative for The Wilderness Society during the time of congressional action on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. He served as Chair of the U.S. Section of the International Council for Bird Preservation and directed a Colorado-based migratory bird conservation program for the National Audubon Society. Early in his career he worked for Friends of the Earth’s Northwest Office in Seattle, Washington and for what is now the Northern Alaska Environmental Center in Fairbanks. In the policy arena, Stan worked as a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and as Alaska Representative for The Wilderness Society during the time of congressional action on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Stan was the State of Alaska’s Chief Restoration Planner under Governor Cowper and then Governor Hickel (1990-92) and Science Coordinator for the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (1995-99).

John Shoen (Anchorage, AK)
John Schoen is Senior Scientist for Audubon Alaska. Prior to joining Audubon in 1997, John worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Wildlife Conservation for 20 years. In 1989, John moved to Fairbanks and became Research Coordinator and supervised agency research on caribou, moose, grizzly bear, and wolf. In 1992, he moved to Anchorage and was the division’s Senior Conservation Biologist until he retired in 1997. John has also served as an Affiliate Professor of Wildlife Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, as past president of the Alaska Chapter of The Wildlife Society and on the International Conservation Union’s Bear Specialist Group. He has published more than 50 scientific and popular articles on Alaska wildlife issues. John is a pilot, has flown over most of the state, and has participated in wildlife surveys throughout Alaska, including the Porcupine Caribou photo census.

May 2008

Dave Parsons (Albuquerque, NM)
Dave Parsons is the vice-chairman and a science fellow of The Rewilding Institute (a conservation think tank) and is the Institute’s Carnivore Conservation Biologist. He currently serves on several regional steering/advisory committees for organizations and coalitions advocating for wolf recovery and landscape-scale conservation in the Southwest. From 1990-1999 Dave led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s effort to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf to portions of its former range in Arizona and New Mexico. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from Iowa State University and his Master of Science degree in Wildlife Ecology from Oregon State University; from 2002 to 2008 he was a graduate advisor in the Environmental Studies Program at Prescott College in Arizona. Dave has been recognized for his expertise and dedication by several important awards, including the New Mexico Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s annual “Professional Award”, the “Alpha Award” at the 2006 North American Wolf Conference, and the “Mike Seidman Memorial Award” from the Sky Island. He enjoys wildlife viewing and wilderness backpacking and lives in Albuquerque, NM.

(Previous Winners)

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