Upstate Forever announces ForeverGreen award winners

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Upstate Forever is naming this year’s ForeverGreen Award winners now but waiting until next year to honor them in ceremony.

Since 2002, Upstate Forever has honored individuals and organizations that have made significant forays into fields related to conservation and sustainable growth in South Carolina’s 10-county Upstate with the ForeverGreen Awards.

In lieu of the conservation group’s annual luncheon, winners will be recognized at next year’s event and in the Upstate Advocate, Upstate Forever’s biannual publication, according to a news release.

“We are proud to recognize the commitment of each of these individuals and organizations to celebrating and protecting our region’s rich natural resources, and ensuring future generations have the opportunity to enjoy a more environmentally healthy, equitable Upstate,” Andrea Cooper, executive director of Upstate Forever, said in the release.

The 2021 ForeverGreen Award recipients include:

• Brad Wyche Extraordinary Achievement Award: David Hargett, executive director of Lake Conestee Nature Preserve
• Clean Water Champion Award: The Southern Environmental Law Center for the group’s work to support the Clean Water Act, mitigate the effects of toxic coal ash pollution, and respond to the Kinder Morgan gasoline spill in Anderson County
• Environmental Equity and Justice Award: Sustaining Way for its work in cultivating a sustainable environment in Greenville’s Nicholtown area
• Land Planning and Policy Champion Award: Ginny Stroud, former community development administrator of the city of Greenville
• Marjorie E. Schmidt Stewardship Award: Judy Cromwell for her protection of Upstate green spaces
• Tommy Wyche Land Conservation Champion Award: Drew Lanham, professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University for his decades of teaching, research and writing in the conservation field.