[env-trinity] Orleans activist wins Earth Day award

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20170426/orleans-activist-wins-earth-day-award&template=printart

Orleans activist wins Earth Day award

She plans to donate cash prize to local river group
By Natalya Estrada, nestrada at times-standard.com, @natedoge4412 on TwitterWednesday, April 26, 2017Orleans-based activist and Klamath River protector, Regina Chichizola was awarded the 2017 Anthony Grassroots Prize, an annual $1,000 Earth Day award recognizing an outstanding example of grassroots environmental stewardship through the Rose Foundation, an environment and community group in Oakland.Chichizola said she would be donating the prize to Save the Klamath-Trinity Salmon, which will use the money for community led efforts to protect the Klamath River’s salmon, including a Save our Salmon benefit concert and seafood dinner on May 27. “I was informed by the Rose Foundation about the award by a phone call,” Chichizola said. “Of course I was honored, but I feel that the award should really go to all the people working hard with me. None of the work I do is done in a bubble. We all take community action for the salmon.”She said supporting communities along the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, who depend on salmon was a major priority in her work and has been for about 20 years. She said the 2002 fish kill impacted her work more and focused it around the Klamath. “We have to make sure people who are most affected by these salmon and river issues are educated about these policy making decisions and have the support to engaged in these decisions,” Chichizola said. “Most of those decisions that affect the North Coast are made in Sacramento, San Francisco, D.C. or Portland and Salem, Oregon.”In addition to the Klamath and Trinity rivers, Chichizola has also volunteered extensively on work in the Eel and Sacramento rivers. Anthony Prize founder Juliette Anthony, said in statement Chichizola recognized the need for action when it came to salmon survival and water sustainability with the state. “Regina Chichizola lives in a place that most Californians have never visited, but she sees the connections between water issues throughout our state better than many of our representatives in Sacramento,” Anthony said. “She advocates for the tribal leaders that are combining hard science with deep spirituality to help all of us understand that the proposals to build the Delta Tunnels, raise the Shasta Dam and drain our aquifers are unjust, shortsighted and unsustainable.”Tim Little, of the Rose Foundation said the goal of the Anthony Prize was to reward an outstanding example of grassroots efforts largely at a volunteer level. Little said the foundation and the founder go through hundreds of nominations, but that Chichizola really stood out. “She is at the center of helping people in California understand that the impacts of the drought have been real and one rainy winter is not going to change that,” Little said. “Regina is a strong voice to help people move forward and that’s why she was awarded this year.”Natalya Estrada can be reached at 707-441-0510.
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