2025 Sacramento Environmental Commission Awards
Call for Nominations! Deadline for submissions is August 29th, 2025 and early submission is encouraged!
Please join us in nominating and recognizing residents, businesses and organizations of Sacramento County and its cities who demonstrate outstanding efforts to improve the environment and encourage others to get involved!
The public awards ceremony will be Monday, October 27, 2025 during a public SEC meeting at BOS 700 H St., Sacramento, 95814
Award Form 2025
Past Environmental Award Winners
2024
Wildlife Care Association
With the help of a small number of paid employees and approximately 250 volunteers, the Wildlife Care Association is open 365 days a year, accepting injured and orphaned wildlife free of charge and caring for them with the ultimate goal of releasing them back into the wild. WCA takes in animals from the public as well as Animal Control Agencies, and maintains detailed annual statistics on species intakes, survival rates, and release rates. In 2023, the Wildlife Care Association received and cared for nearly 7,000 animals and is on track to receive even more in 2024. Between 3000-4000 of the animals received, that otherwise may have died, are released back into the Sacramento area annually. WCA maintains a hotline that the public can call if they find an animal in need and have questions about intervention and care. WCA cares for approximately 340 different species of mammals and birds each year, filling an enormous gap for injured wildlife rehabilitation in the Sacramento region.
Jamie Stephenson
Jamie Stephenson from Girl Scouts Heart of Central California, Troop 238, planted 25 trees in October of 2023 with the help of 50 volunteers, including the Sacramento Tree Foundation and the City of Folsom. 14 years old at the time, she organized this effort as a project to address the global issue of climate change, which causes warmer temperatures and rising sea levels. The project took 2 years from planning to completion. She planted the trees in a local park in a common gathering area, so local residents would benefit from the shade and beauty. She committed to providing care for the trees for 3 years, including watering them in the summers and visiting year round to check on tree health.
SPLASH
Over the past 23 years Splash has partnered with many municipalities on education and outreach to communities about the importance of Stormwater Pollution Prevention and Watershed Protection, and has connected nearly 105,000 students with nature, often for the first time in their lives. Splash has trained over 450 teachers on how to make science fun while inspiring a student's curiosity.
SPLASH's Education Programs in 2023 connected with 18,620 students and 579 teachers. Their climate centered Youth Environmental Leadership Camp serves many campers from Title 1 schools and introduces 6th and 7th graders to eco centric career opportunities.
SPLASH maintains a set of approximately 40 animal ambassadors to assist with Vernal Pool and grassland instruction. These animals were either injured or kept as pets and cannot be released into the wild. In 2023, 546 attendees took tours of the vernal pools. Splash attended educational events where over 7000 people interacted with their educational booth. The Project AWE, which stands for Agriculture, Water, Energy and Environment, hosted 43 school field trips for approximately 7000 students at the Nicolaus Dairy in Elk Grove. Topics at those field trips included water conservation, pollinators, organic farming and vermicomposting. SPLASH has done a tremendous job providing outreach and educating our communities about environmental topics.
2023
The American River Homeless Crew
The American River Homeless Crews have been cleaning the American Parkway since the group was founded by Daniel Aderholt in 2013. He and over 1,000 unhoused volunteers clean up the Parkway of thousands of pounds of trash and debris to protect the environment. The Crew works in conjunction with Sacramento Regional Parks who removes the trash cleaned up by the volunteers.
Miridae
Miridae Living Labs promote the crucial ecological role of native arthropods and plants through hands-on mobile science education, “living lab" gardens throughout the region, California native arthropod propagation, and an on-site insectarium. They envision is a world in which cities are cohabitated by humans, native plants, and native arthropods and where local observation of plants and arthropods serves as an accessible, equitable, and engaging launchpad into stem education for people of all communities, while advancing scientific research. Current projects include The Seed Pile Project, the Sierra 2 Center Instructional Native Plant Garden and the Urban Habitat Tracking project, all of which invite people to become citizen scientists and contribute to the crucial data that informs decision making.
Mather Golf Course
The Mather Golf Course is certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, an environmental education and certification program that helps golf courses protect the environment, and promote environmental sustainability. The environmental components of this certification include site assessment/environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation, water quality management, and outreach and education. As a result of their continued work on establishing and implementing numerous environmental and sustainability programs through water conservation and managing and improving native habitat, there is a flourishing native plant and animal population, including turtles, hawks, coyotes, and snakes. The Course is hosting a First Green Event which will use the golf course as a living classroom where local students will experience hands-on STEM learning.
Roland Brady
The SEC recognized Dr. Roland Brady for his efforts to expand, protect or enhance green space or habitats for natural and recreational uses. Dr. Brady has been organizing and leading clean-up events along the American River since 2017. Crystal Tobias has partnered with Roland for the last 8 years cleaning the waterway of Steelhead Creek in the American River Parkway. They have worked closely with the American River Parkway Foundation, River City Waterway Alliance, Sacramento County Parks Department, Reclamation District 1000, and other organizations. A project warranting special recognition is the clean-up activities he led on Steelhead Creek. His efforts included removing many tons of trash that covered the stream banks and channel where it impeded fish passage and water flow. This included thousands of plastic tarps and textiles on the channel bottom choking out the oxygen needed to support aquatic life, which resulted in low production of invertebrate food species upon which fish and other organisms depend. Dr. Brady implemented an innovative project using draft horses to remove trash and debris that was too large or heavy for normal clean-up using hand labor. Dr. Brady continues to investigate using mechanical equipment to winch or haul large volumes of material from the streambeds.
Cherry Island Golf Course
Cherry Island Golf Course is also certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, an environmental education and certification program that helps golf courses protect the environment, and promote environmental sustainability. The environmental components of this certification include site assessment/environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation, water quality management, and outreach and education. In alignment with their annual Audubon recertification, Cherry Island has initiated numerous environmental programs including the installation of bird and bat boxes, turf reduction for water reduction, increasing native habitat areas and an extensive tree planting program. They are also committee to reducing pesticides, stream monitoring, and educational programs.
The River City Waterway Alliance
The River City Waterway Alliance (RCWA) is recognized in a special category recognizing their work since the formation of the group in January 2023. This special category emphasizes emerging actions that are recently performed in 2023. The SEC wishes to recognize the RCWA for its efforts to expand, protect and enhance green space or habitats for natural and recreational uses. RCWA is an all-volunteer group dedicated to cleaning, restoring and protecting the imperiled waterways of the Sacramento region. RCWA works in partnership with public agencies (including Sacramento County Regional Parks) and community groups, and raises awareness about environmental damage to our waterways. RCWA has hosted 160 volunteer clean-up events which elicited 4,873 total volunteer hours and the removal of 571,410 pounds of trash and abandoned encampment debris from local waterways, as of July.
Awards Program was paused from 2020-2022
2019
Sacramento Audubon Society
The SEC recognized the Audubon's Environmental Education Program for Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps and their participation in the 2018 Nature Bowl Competition. The goal of the Education program is to enhance corps members understanding, appreciation and respect for the environment in which they work through rotating classroom sessions and field sessions. Corps members help maintain pedestrian pathways at the Bobelaine Sanctuary and through the educational programs provided by the Audubon Society, they may share their knowledge with others and become betters stewards and ambassadors of the environment. The Audubon Society also participated in the 2018 Nature Bowl Semi Finals Competition at Pollock Pines, reaching 118 students from 9 schools. The Nature Bowl is a fun, science based event for elementary age students promoting activities which challenged students' knowledge of the environment, habitat and conservation.
Mr. Corey Brown
Corey Brown has been active in environmental causes for many years and was a key component in the formation of the Lower American River Parkway Conservancy which will protect and enhance the Lower American River Parkway for years to come. He serves as a strategic policy advisor and program officer with the Resources Legacy Fund covering a diverse portfolio of issues, including climate change, land use, park protection, urban rivers, and river restoration. Previously, Mr. Brown served as executive director of the Big Sur Land Trust, government affairs director for The Trust for Public Land (Western Region), general counsel for the Planning and Conservation League, legal counsel for Friends of the River, and Assembly Fellow with the California State Legislature. He also served as adjunct professor at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and as visiting lecturer at UC Davis.
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
For best practices, safe-handling, and emission reduction of Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6). As part of its daily operations, SMUD manages over 400 circuit breakers and switchgears containing SF6 gas. SF6 is a very potent greenhouse gas used as an insulating medium to prevent electric discharges in high voltage applications, including SMUD substations and transmission equipment. With a global warming potential 23,500 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2), even relatively small amounts of SF6 can have a significant impact on global climate change, so it is important to minimize SF6 emissions. In 2010, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) imposed a maximum annual emission rate for SF6 emissions. SMUD has consistently maintained its SF6 emissions well below CARB's maximum limits through its outstanding best management practices and emission reduction efforts. SMUD is also considered an industry leader in SF6 emissions reduction and helps educate other entities so they can reduce their SF6 emissions also.
California State University, Sacramento Newly Constructed Parking Structure 5
This structure was named 2018 Innovative Sustainability Project of the Year from the National Parking Association and incorporated many innovations to minimize its environmental impact. The following are just a few highlights of the structure:
- Drywells and bios wales to divert storm runoff into the ground
- Tree planting that exceeded the number of trees that needed to be removed due to ill health and construction. Trees were retained by the University Sustainability Group for research, and design projects.
- Parking Count System at the main entry point of the structure, reducing needless driving and idling time
- Prefab construction system fabricated offsite reducing construction time by 9 months
- EV Charging Stations and clean air vehicle designated spaces
- Bicycle Parking
