Cox Conserves knows how to pick a Hero

Jan Holmes, one of my cohorts on the Eelgrass Videography project, has been nominated for a Cox Conserves Heroes award. I wrote about Jan’s indefatigable quest for data back in  late December of 2009 when she dragged her husband Steve and I out on the mudflats in the middle of the night to collect eelgrass samples.

Jan’s amazing and deserves this award for the years of tireless work and leadership she’s given to this and many other Beach Watchers projects – notably the Intertidal Monitoring program that she and her friend Mary Jo got going back in 1995.  Under the name Periwinkle Press, Jan and Mary Jo also publish laminated marine creature identification cards that many Beach Watchers and other naturalists use in their educational programs at parks and beaches.

The heroes competition is now in the final round, with Jan one of five finalists. Channel 7 came out to Freeland today for an interview with Jan on the beach at Freeland Park. She and other Beach Watchers showed the reporter and cameraman the ins and outs of beach monitoring, and took them out in the boat to see how the underwater videography equipment works.

Image of eelgrass research boat on Holmes Harbor and photo shoot for Cox Conserves Heros award

Here’s a little information on the award.

To help honor Western Washington’s unsung environmental heroes and inspire neighborhood conservation, KIRO 7 has launched Cox Conserves Heroes for the third year. The program is being sponsored locally by Brotherton Cadillac. For the 2010 program, a total of $10,000 will be donated to local environmental nonprofits in the Seattle area. The Cox Conserves Hero will receive $5,000, and each of the four finalists will receive $1,250 to donate to their nonprofits of choice.

Heroes and their projects must meet the following criteria:

  • The activity cannot be part of one’s job.
  • A Hero should be someone who has helped to create, protect and/or care for an outdoor place available for public relaxation, reflection or recreation by the community.
  • The activity or project must be located within the community as defined by the local Awards Program (select the market near you to learn more).
  • The Hero’s story should inspire others to act.
  • The activity should be something that anyone could do.
  • The activity cannot be pre-existing, such as a recycling program.
  • Previous Cox Conserves Heroes and finalists who received donations for their environmental nonprofits of choice are not eligible.

Types of projects considered:

  • Cleaning up/refurbishing a park or public place
  • Helping to provide public access to a previously inaccessible place
  • Beautifying a public place, e.g. planting/ tending to a community garden
  • Volunteering at a local park
  • Water conservation/protection-related projects
  • Creating a program that gets people to public places
  • Donating and/or assisting in the acquisition of land for public use
  • Advocacy, education and/or community outreach for parks and open space

Congratulations Jan!

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8 Comments

    1. Hi Jill,
      I went looking for that information and couldn’t find it myself. So I went directly to Jan, who said:
      “This is from the lady at KIRO. Voting begins at kirotv.com/heroes on October 11. The special program airs on KIRO 7 on October 17 at 6:30 p.m.

  1. Nancy,

    This is GREAT! As you say, there is no-one who deserves this more than Jan. And the publicity for Beach Watchers and the eel-grass project doesn’t hurt either… to everyone: watch and VOTE!!! JJ

  2. Thank you, Nancy, for the terrific photos and writeup. This recognition is richly deserved for Jan and the entire eelgrass team. They are doing a magnificent job.

    1. You’re absolutely right Dan. She leads two projects, Intertidal Monitoring and Eelgrass Videography, that are a huge help to scientists and a kick in the pants to work on. The eelgrass team is amazing, and the skill sets people bring to Beach Watchers … I am wowed over and over again.

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