2008 National Arbor Day Awards

Lawrence Enersen Award

Debbie Mendelson

Debbie Mendelson of Woodside, CA, will receive the Lawrence Enersen Award for outstanding tree planting and conservation work at the community level. Mendelson started the Heritage Tree Awards, which identifies and honors trees of historical significance in her community. She also helped craft and for 12 years worked on passing a Tree Preservation Ordinance, which was adopted by Woodside in 2006. Mendelson helped create the Woodside Tree Booklet, which catalogues trees and shrubs suited to the area, and distributes it to residents of Woodside and to contractors who work in the area.

This year’s winners are:

• Lifetime Stewardship Award

  • Dr. Peter Raven of St. Louis, MO

• Frederick Law Olmsted Award

  • Buck Abbey of Baton Rouge, LA

• Caroline French Morton Award

  • Jeunesse Park of Johannesburg, South Africa

• Lawrence Enersen Award

  • Debbie Mendelson of Woodside, CA

• Lady Bird Johnson Award

  • Green Streets for Omaha, NE

• Rachel Carson Award

  • Long Island Nature Collaborative for Kids of Long Island, NY

• Good Steward Award

  • Kurt Berger of Sugar Grove, PA
  • Johney Haralson of Denmark, SC
  • The Ziolkowski Family of Crazy Horse, SD

• Project Award

  • The City of Buffalo and Re-Tree Western New York of Buffalo, NY
  • Johnson City Housing Authority of Johnson City, TN
  • Rain to Recreation of Lenexa, KS
  • The USDA Forest Service Living Memorials Project of Newtown Square, PA

• Education Award

  • The Forest Where Ashley Lives by Mark and Ashley Vitosh of Ames, IA

• Media Award

  • If I Were a Tree by Dar Hosta of Flemington, NJ

• Celebration Award

  • Eastside Elementary School of Clewiston, FL

• Promise to the Earth Award

  • Doubletree Hotels
  • Home Depot Foundation