• On Sept. 10, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) received the National Distinguished Service Award from the Sierra Club, which honors individuals in public service who have a strong, consistent commitment to conservation. Capps was nominated for the award by the Santa Lucia chapter of the Sierra Club, located in San Luis Obispo. She was presented the award at a reception attended by more than 100 Sierra Club members and volunteers, including numerous members from local Central Coast Sierra Club chapters.
“I am truly honored to receive this award, especially given all the work Sierra Club itself has done on behalf of our environment,” Capps said in a press release. “While in Congress, I have seen firsthand how important it is that networks of conservationists stay strong and committed to their cause. I am proud to share in Sierra Club’s ideals of a vibrant, healthy environment for all and to celebrate victories we have had in preserving our Central Coast. Together, we have made great progress in protecting natural spaces, and I know the club’s tireless efforts will continue to pay off.”
The Sierra Club, founded in 1882 by conservationist John Muir, is one of the nation’s largest grassroots environmental organizations with more than 2 million members and supporters. It has successfully worked toward the protection of wilderness, the passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, and in the movement toward clean energy and away from fossil fuels.
Several Central Coast Sierra Club members provided the following comments on Capps’ contributions that led to her nomination for the award.
“Lois has always fought the good fight against offshore oil in Santa Barbara,” Katie Davis, chair of the Santa Barbara Group in the Sierra Club’s Los Padres Chapter, said in a press release. “She has also fought with us against the explosively dangerous and environmentally disastrous oil-by-rail proposal that would bring Canadian tar sands crude through California and endanger the Central Coast.”
“We are eternally grateful to Lois Capps for her introduction of the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act,” Santa Lucia Chapter Conservation Chair Sue Harvey said in the release. “Her love for the natural wonders of our Central Coast are evident in her conservation record. When Congress fulfills her vision of expanding the special places in the Los Padres National Forest, establishing the first wilderness areas in the Carrizo Plain National Monument, California’s Serengeti protecting wild and scenic rivers, and designating the Condor Trail, her conservation legacy will be complete.”
This article appears in Sep 22-29, 2016.
