© Tyler Garnham Glen Davis

$10,000 Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize

Do you know a wildlife conservation hero who has been essential to protecting nature in Canada at personal financial sacrifice? Someone like Ray Plourde, last year’s winner? Nominate that person for the fourth annual $10,000 Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize.

Applications for the fifth season will open March 2021.

About Glen Davis

Glen Davis was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. When he wasn’t managing his financial interests or trekking in remote wilderness, he helped to protect more of Canada than anyone before or after him.

Glen loved big wilderness and was a leading supporter of WWF-Canada’s Endangered Spaces Campaign between 1989-2000, which resulted in the establishment of more than 1,000 new nature reserves, parks and wilderness areas, doubling the amount of protected lands and waters in Canada. Tragically, his life was cut short. Glen was slain in May of 2007 at age 66.

About the prize

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society was a strong partner in Glen’s conservation work, particularly through its local chapters, which Glen supported right across the country. That’s why the $10,000 Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize is a joint project of WWF-Canada and CPAWS.

Glen focused on tangible conservation accomplishments and distinguished between process, progress and results. So the Glen Davis Leadership Prize is intended to recognize not just improving the decision-making process, or making progress towards protection — as necessary as these steps might be. It rewards efforts that lead to the actual protection of land or marine ecosystems in Canada.

For this reason, the successful candidates for this prize must have demonstrated clear conservation results, or be on the cusp of such accomplishments with help from the $10,000 prize money.

Glen invested in people as individuals and he was known for supporting their costs of living as well as the costs of their work. Likewise, this prize is intended to financially reward a worthy candidate, recognizing that conservation activists often make personal financial sacrifices to do what they do.

This prize was established by WWF-Canada and CPAWS to be given for the first time on the 10th anniversary year of his death to honour Glen’s nationally significant contribution to Canada, and to continue that contribution through worthy individuals who deliver results in the tradition of his legacy. As such, it is one of the most prestigious recognitions of its kind.

Who should be nominated?

The successful candidate will have the one of following characteristics:

  • Played a key role in bringing — or being on the cusp of bringing — meaningful protections to identifiable land or marine ecosystems. This could be one specific area with which the nominee has become associated, or an entire network of new protected areas.
  • Or led a foundational initiative regarding species or spaces that leaves our country measurably better off.

Plus:

  • Demonstrated personal financial sacrifice.

Other considerations:

  • May or may not be associated with or employed by an existing conservation organization, and this person might lead from the front by having a highly visible role in conservation advocacy, or play a leadership role behind the scenes, such as inspiring and coordinating the efforts of others.
  • May or may not be well known. They could be a veteran of many years effort, or a promising up-and-comer.
  • The prize is not intended as a bursary or scholarship to help full-time students in financial need, or to complete their studies.

The winners

Meet the inaugural prize winner, Anne Sherrod, a selfless B.C. wilderness activist.

Conservation leader Grand Chief Herb Norwegian of Dehcho First Nations won the 2018 prize.

Wilderness Coordinator for the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre Raymond Plourde won the 2019 prize.

How to nominate a candidate for the prize

  • Provide the name, address, email and telephone number of the nominee.
  • Gather material to describe in 600 words or less how the nominee meets the prize criteria, documenting both conservation merit and personal financial sacrifice.
  • Provide the name, email and telephone number for two references for the nominee, other than the nominator.