Announcing Our 2025 Conservation Award Winners

2025 Conservation Award Winners Graphic

We are so pleased to recognize these individuals and organizations who are doing extraordinary conservation work in their communities:

 

Paul Butler Memorial Award Winner: Connie Schmidt

Connie Schmidt With Referendum Sign
Connie Schmidt With Referendum Sign

It is our absolute honor to announce Connie Schmidt of Warrenville as the winner of this year’s Paul Butler Memorial Award for outstanding service, volunteerism, and passion for conservation.

Connie has been involved in local environmental advocacy for 30 years. She is the Group Executive Chair for the River Prairie Sierra Club, as well as the DuPage Issues Coordinator, the fundraising chair and on the Clean Power Team DuPage. She is also vice-chair of the Illinois Chapter of Sierra Club; she was Illinois state chair for 4 years. She advocates with willing partners with the Sierra Club at all levels, has been involved with the Illinois Prairie Path, and is a member of Wild Ones.

For 30 years, Connie has also been a loyal member of The Conservation Foundation. She is a frequent face at our events – I’d love to know how many Membership Luncheons she has been to over the years! This past fall, Connie co-chaired the DuPage Neighbors for Open Space, Clean Water and Clean Air forest preserve referendum committee, playing an instrumental role in passing the open space referendum that will provide millions in annual conservation funding for DuPage County. She is a passionate and skilled networker, adept at bringing people with like interests together and putting them in touch with people who have answers. She also lobbies elected officials, particularly to promote clean energy policies. She is one of the people putting together the DuPage Monarch Project Pollinator Blitz, which will be held March 15th at the Mayslake Peabody Estate and is co-sponsored by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, The Conservation Foundation, and Greater DuPage Wild Ones.

When she is not volunteering, Connie loves being outdoors riding her horse, paddleboarding, or kayaking on Silver Lake at Blackwell Forest Preserve. Being in nature helps ground her and is where she feels most mindful. Her dedication to volunteer work stems from a deep desire to leave a healthy natural environment for generations to come, and she will continue working for healthy habitats, clean energy, air, and water.

“To me, Connie epitomizes the Paul Butler Memorial Award,” said our President/CEO Brook McDonald. “She has for decades worked tirelessly to preserve and improve our environment and has done that as a community volunteer.”

We are so grateful to Connie for all she has done!

 

Mighty Acorns© Golden Acorn Award: Conrad Fischer Elementary School

Mighty Acorns participant
Mighty Acorns participant

The Conservation Foundation’s Golden Acorn Award was established in memory of Betty Bradshaw, a much beloved past trustee of The Conservation Foundation, and one of our most generous financial donors. She had a deep passion for educating local youth and inspiring in them a sense of wonder for nature. This year’s Golden Acorn Award goes to Conrad Fischer Elementary School in Elmhurst.

Conrad Fischer Elementary School has participated in the Mighty Acorns© program since 2017, providing their students with hands-on experience in environmental stewardship and real-world connections that help students gain a deeper understanding of the science curriculum they are learning in school and the nature in their community. Three times a year, Mighty Acorns© educators from The Conservation Foundation visit Conrad Fischer Elementary to do interactive activities and lessons followed by hikes and opportunities for environmental stewardship in the prairie near their school. Teachers have shared that many students have become very invested in the local prairie outside of their dedicated Mighty Acorns© time.

Morgan Folliard, 4th Grade Dual Language Teacher at Fischer Elementary, especially loves the way she sees some students that struggle in the traditional classroom setting shine during Mighty Acorns©. “Every year, I always have a few students who have a special interest in plants, birds, or nature in general. Those particular students get to shine and show their expertise during the Mighty Acorns© presentations and field trips when they ordinarily may not show as much enthusiasm in the classroom,” said Morgan. “This program gives students the opportunity to be leaders for their peers, ask deeper questions about subjects they are passionate about, spend time outdoors, and have fun outside of the classroom!”

ComEd and Stantec partnered to provide three classes of Conrad Fischer School 3rd graders the Mighty Acorns© program to transform a ComEd right-of-way into prairie. With the commitment from the teachers and administrators of Conrad Fischer School to connect their students with nature through experiential learning, the program has grown to include the 4th and 5th graders with a total of 16 classes. These dedicated teachers engage students in meaningful experiences and have empowered students to be involved in improving the environment in their own community.

Thank you so much to all staff and administrators for their participation in Mighty Acorns© and for their dedication to connecting children to nature, and to ComEd and Stantec for their financial support.

Mighty Acorns participant
Mighty Acorns participants

 

Conservation@Home Award: City of Naperville

The City of Naperville has been a member of The Conservation Foundation’s Conservation In Our Community program since its inception, but in 2024 that partnership reached new heights when the City offered to pay for their residents to have yard consultations and become certified through our Conservation@Home program. They included information about Conservation@Home in their newsletters and shared it on social media, helping us reach a much wider audience than we would have been able to on our own. We had more than 100 people contact us to schedule a yard consultation, where our staff were able to give advice on how residents could use native plants and rain barrels to make their properties more functional and beautiful. More than 20 yards were ultimately Conservation@Home certified through this partnership, with the City of Naperville paying the sign fee for those certifications!

“With Conservation@Home, we want to support healthy landscapes that provide habitat and food for so many beneficial birds, insects, and other creatures that enrich our lives, while also storing water, reducing stormwater runoff, and providing for improved air quality in our neighborhoods,” Ben shared. “We also work to conserve energy, water, and materials that might otherwise go to a landfill, all strategies that reduce wasted resources that are integral to a healthy, sustainable community both now and in the future. We are humbled and grateful to The Conservation Foundation for this award and the incredible work you do to make life better in Naperville and throughout the region.”

Naperville is our home, where our McDonald Farm headquarters is located, and we enthusiastically commend the City of Naperville for partnering with us to improve our local landscapes and connect people to healthy activities that support a thriving community. Congratulations to our 2025 Conservation@Home Award winner!

 

Salt Smart Community Award: Village of New Lenox

Snow Fleet
Snow Fleet

The 2025 Salt Smart Community Award goes to the Village of New Lenox, located in Will County. New Lenox was chosen for the Salt Smart Award for the “greater good” mentality and community-minded approach to managing winter deicing operations, and the way they have incorporated conservation into their daily operations.

The Village of New Lenox has been applying Salt Smart best practices for some time now, and were also valuable participants in our Roads Training Committee, providing input into new winter best practices. They have also hosted several of our Winter Best Practices workshops, including tours of their facilities and equipment. While keeping the safety of their residents first and foremost, they have been able to reduce salt use, and are always looking for opportunities to use less of or reuse any material, in any season, which helps the environment and also saves them time and money. Their willingness to share successes, lessons learned, and be a resource and mentor for other local communities has helped uplift environmentally sensitive deicing operations throughout the region!

“Receiving the email stating we were named this year’s Salt Smart Community was completely unexpected and it was quite a pleasant surprise, which can be a rarity whenever winter weather is involved,” commented Sean Vandenbergh, Superintendent of the Street Department at the Village. “To receive this award from an organization that knows what we do behind the scenes to save on salt and reduce winter’s impact on the environment, while regularly receiving compliments from elected officials and our residents on snow and ice prevention and removal feels like an incredible combination to achieve.”

Sean credits the support of administration and elected officials in New Lenox and their planning and investment into their Public Works vehicle fleet, as well as the willingness of his staff to do things right at any hour they are called upon and take pride in the way their routes look when operations are complete.

We are so pleased to recognize the Village of New Lenox for their forward-thinking mindset and for being a regional leader as a Salt Smart community!

 

Conservation Partners of the Year: DuPage and Kane County Referendum Committees

On November 5th, voters in DuPage and Kane Counties voted YES for open space, approving forest preserve district referenda that will bring each county millions of dollars in conservation funding each year. These campaigns could not have been successful without the efforts of the volunteer committees for each county, DuPage Neighbors for Open Space, Clean Water and Clean Air and Kane Neighbors for Open Space, Clean Water and Clean Air. These committees are our Conservation Partners of the Year!

The campaign committee members were the “boots on the ground” for the successful referenda campaigns, galvanizing county-wide support. They did everything from provide direction to each campaign to working their own social media to literally handing out campaign literature. Members kept us in touch with what was happening in their communities, what people were saying, what they were hearing from others. Because of this, we were able to pivot when we needed to or address misinformation before it became an issue. In short, their work was instrumental in these campaigns being successful.

Amy Phillips, DuPage County Program Director for The Conservation Foundation, said, “I’ve been involved in political campaigns before this one, but this was by far the most positive experience I’ve had in politics. Rs and Ds putting aside the national division and working together toward the common goal of improving the quality of life for ourselves and our neighbors – there’s nothing better than that!”

Due to the efforts of these volunteers, the Forest Preserve Districts of DuPage and Kane Counties will be able to continue making new preserves and enlarging existing ones, providing safe and accessible public access to nature for local residents and visitors, upgrading tired facilities and amenities, and improving the ecological health of their natural areas.

We would like to sincerely thank each and every committee member who worked on these campaigns, our Conservation Partners of the Year:

DuPage Co-Chairs:
Kaaren Oldfield, Glen Ellyn
Bob Schillerstrom, Naperville
Connie Schmidt, Warrenville

Other members:
Arian Ahmadpour, Naperville
John Baar, Oak Brook
Yasmeen Bankole, Hanover Park
Lisa Beckwith, Wheaton
Jacquelyn Casazza, Glen Ellyn
Cathy Clarkin, Naperville
Mimi Cowan, Naperville
Bill Dawe, Naperville
Jay Gilbert, Wheaton
John Gormley, Downers Grove
Jennifer Hammer, Lisle
Robert Hernandez, Addison
Mark Koerner, Wayne
Joe LeCroy, Lombard
Larry Larson, Naperville
Azam Nizamuddin, Bloomingdale
Simrit Patel, Hinsdale
Beth Peluse, Lombard
Amy Phillips, Naperville
Dan Probst, Roselle
Jan Roehll, Naperville
Steve Stawarz, Oak Brook
Steve & Liz Van Arsdell, Naperville
Mary Lou Wehrli, Naperville

Kane Co-chairs:
John Hoscheit, St. Charles
Mary Ochsenschlager, Sugar Grove
John Rogner, Elgin
Shauna Wiet, Aurora

Other members:
Ken Anderson, Elburn
Anna Bakker, Batavia
Abby Beck, Batavia
Lynn Boerman, Batavia
Marge Brown, Wayne
Nancy Cox, St. Charles
Jane Davis, Big Rock
Carter Dell, Campton Township
Tim Kehoe, Elburn
Becky Gillam, West Dundee
Krista Glosson, Elgin
Patty Golden, Dundee
Kim Haag, Elburn
Sue Harney, Sleepy Hollow
Jeff Hedrich, North Aurora
Fred Iozzo, Wayne
Jerry Johnson, Campton Hills
Sandy Kaczmarski, Elburn
June Keibler, Dundee
Dan Lobbes, Batavia
Julie Long, St. Charles
Tony Martinez, Aurora
Jeff Mengler, St. Charles
Gindi Orloff, St. Charles
Ryan Solomon, St. Charles
Ellen Soukup, St. Charles
Jan Strasma, Virgil
Gary Swick, Elgin

 

Save your spot to join us at our Membership & Awards Luncheon on Thursday, February 13th at the Hyatt Regency in Lisle to see all our amazing award winners receive their awards!

 

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