Howard making a splash at NVCA awards tonight
By Chris Simon

Photo by Chris Simon Innisdale Secondary School student Jeff Howard kneels by a pond in his backyard Friday. The 16-year-old will be presented with an award from the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority tonight, for his environmental work around Lake Simcoe. Several others will also receive awards tonight.

Conservation has always been Jeff Howard's passion.

Since the age of eight, the Innisdale Secondary School Grade 10 student has been involved in several conservation projects. He has already completed 300 hours of community service, and is a member of several naturalist groups, Kids for Turtles and Innisdale's Outbound Club. He has also participated in several programs aimed at educating anglers about using lead free tackle, and has placed signs at Lefroy Harbour regarding loon conservation.

He has also educated residents on the lake's invasive species. Nature even extends home. Howard has a small preserve in his backyard, where squirrels, birds and other small animals have free reign.

"It's curiosity (that pushes me)," he said last week. "The more things I learn, the more I want to get out there and do stuff. I've grown up with wildlife."

Tonight Howard, along with several other residents and organizations from across the region, will be honoured at the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority's annual awards dinner in Newmarket. This year's ceremony will salute recipients in six categories, including merit, media recognition, environmental education, soil and water conservation and the George R. Richardson Conservation Award of Honour.

Howard, Uxbridge Watershed Advisory Committee chair Thomas Fowle, Barrie North Collegiate and parent volunteer Carolyn Gray, and Newmarket's Clearmeadow Public School Earth Club and teacher Jan Norwood will receive education awards.

"I'm not doing it for the award, I'm just doing it," said Howard. "But to be recognized, it's going to push me to do more and better stuff. It's really nice that people notice what I'm doing."

Barrie North and Gray hosted and funded an Everyday is Earth Day event earlier this year, presenting community displays and local speakers for students. Environmentalist David Suzuki was a guest speaker at the event.

Orillia resident Bob Bowles will receive the Richardson award for volunteer and activist work regarding Lake Simcoe protection. He has participated in several stream restoration projects, is a member of local environmental clubs and has shown a lifelong commitment to protecting local watersheds, said NVCA chair Virginia Hackson.

The Richardson award is presented to residents and groups who have demonstrated significant commitment to improving the environmental health of the lake's watershed, and is considered the most prestigious award of the evening, she said.

"By celebrating environmental success stories from across the watershed, we hope to inspire others to conserve and protect (the) lake," said Hackson. "(The NVCA's) mission is to provide leadership in the restoration and protection of the environmental health and quality of (The) lake and its watershed with our community, municipal and other government partners."

Aurora Community Arboretum, Caritas rehabilitation and addiction centre , King Township's Katharina Kohnen, Uxbridge's Monica McCartney and Sunoco and the Suncor Energy Foundation will receive soil conservation awards.

The North Mara Residents Association, and the municipalities of Barrie, Newmarket, Aurora and Uxbridge will each receive water conservation awards. Several individuals will also receive water awards, including King's Jane Glassco and Brett and Emma Delmas, Georgina's Peter and Steven Keilhofer, and Oro- Medonte's Gail Raikes.