2023 Awards

Congratulations to our 2023 award winners!

And thanks to Jan Dixon for these photos.

Our Denise Gehring Student Award winners for 2023 (l to r): Denise Gehring, Nick Weaver, Todd Crail (nominator), Raven Patrick, and Paige Anspach (Unable to attend: Ashlyn Gurney)

Our President’s Award winner this year is Marilyn DuFour. Nominator Denise Gehring had these words to share about Marilyn:

Her kindness, open heart, patience, exemplary hands on and passionate conservation work has made Toledo a much better place to live. She has been a lifelong environmental steward —since high school, when she worked for the Youth Conservation Corps .

Her ongoing leadership work on the Toledo Rain Garden Initiative and Sacred Grounds directly integrates with Wild Ones’ efforts.

As a member of Monroe Street United Methodist Church she has promoted the use of native plants by establishing a native plant rain garden and inter-planting natives in the church’s vegetable garden for pollinators and monarch conservation. When native plants need to be edited, she freely shares them with those in need.

As a youth nature educator she has been a great role model working as a City Park Naturalist, and Nature Camp leader, as well as her involvement with the Girl Scouts and Partners for Clean Streams.

We gave two Residential Landscape Awards this year. Here are Hal and Ginny Mann (and Todd Crail in the center) with their award for their lovely home landscape in Perrysburg.

And another Residential Landscape Award was given to Linda Bode and Jerry Heuring.