Congrats YC!

Jim Range Conservation Vision Award: Yvon Chouinard

"Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia's founder, started Patagonia in 1973 to meet the equipment and clothing needs of outdoor enthusiasts, primarily rock climbers, hikers and anglers. From the very beginning, Patagonia devoted time and money to the increasingly apparent national and world-wide environmental crisis. Yvon saw what was happening in the remote corners of the world: creeping pollution and deforestation, the slow, then not so slow, disappearance of fish and wildlife and decided to do something about it. Since then, Patagonia never looked back.

Yvon had the foresight and commitment to have Patagonia become a leader in giving back to natural resources to ensure their future viability and stability. In 1986, Patagonia began a program that makes it unique among corporate entities that care about fisheries habitat. Patagonia committed to donate 10% of profits each year to grass-roots environmental groups. They later upped the ante to 1% of sales, or 10% of profits, whichever was greater. Patagonia has kept to that commitment every year since, and placed a high emphasis on fishery habitat protection over the years, as evidenced by the starting of the World Trout Initiative to specifically address trout habitats and populations, the 1% For the Planet program that supports local grass-roots projects which include fishery habitat projects, and the Conservation Alliance – a program that enlists other funding sources to participate in wildlife and fisheries habitat projects."

Synopsis:

SECOND ANNUAL NATIONAL FISH HABITAT AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Award Ceremony to be held at Jim Range National Casting Call, Winners include: EPA, Patagonia, Project SHARE, LLI-University of Wisconsin-Extension Lakes

(Washington, DC) – A group of the nation’s leading authorities on aquatic conservation, the National Fish Habitat Board, will honor two exceptional organizations and two individual champions in aquatic resource conservation at the Second Annual National Fish Habitat Awards ceremony on April 27, 2009 at the Jim Range National Casting Call hosted by the American Fly Fishing Trade Association.

From nominations submitted by the hundreds of organizations that comprise the National Fish Habitat Partners Coalition, the awardees demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to fish habitat conservation, science and education. They are leading by example to help resolve the nation’s most significant fisheries problems.

For 2009, the selection committee added an additional award category, Extraordinary Action category in support of fish habitat, bringing the total number of awards to four. Also, in honor of the recently passed Jim Range, who tragically lost his battle with cancer, the selection committee has re-named the Exceptional Vision Award in Jim’s honor. The award will now be the Jim Range Conservation Vision Award. “Renaming the Award in honor of Jim, is just a small token to honor all that he has done in Washington to support fish and wildlife conservation. The Board found it fitting to rename the award and there is no better venue to honor Jim than Casting Call.” said Kelly Hepler, National Fish Habitat Board Chairman. “Jim was a true pioneer for conservation and was a true visionary when it came to fish and wildlife related issues.”