Meet Our 2023 Award Winners

December 27, 2023

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• Great Gray Owl Awards
• Martha Kostuch Annual Wilderness and Wildlife Lecture
• Wilderness Defenders Awards
• WLA Archive

Wilderness Defender Award

Each year, AWA presents the Wilderness Defender awards in recognition of the outstanding, dedicated contribution these individuals give Alberta’s wilderness and wildlife. This year’s recipients are:

Dr. Leroy Little Bear

If knowledgeable people are considered fountains, Dr. Leroy Little Bear is a waterfall. The Blackfoot researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Lethbridge, has no short supply of wisdom, and he shares it generously. During his presentation at AWA’s award and lecture evening on Nov. 17, he gave the audience a question to take home with them. “So often we talk about the ecological role of different types of animals,” he said, “but we never ask ourselves what the ecological role of human beings really is about.”

Little Bear, born and raised on the Kainai First Nation in Alberta, one of seven children in his family and who attended the residential day school there, has multiple achievements and accolades. He’s the founding member of Canada’s first Native American Studies Department, and a recognized leader and advocate for First Nations education, rights, self-governance, language and culture. He has received numerous awards and recognition for his work, including the Officer Order of Canada, and the Alberta Order of Excellence. In 1971, when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, he became one of the first First Nations people to graduate from the University of Lethbridge. Little Bear also has a Juris Doctor Degree at the College of Law from the University of Utah. After chairing the Native American Studies Department at U of L for 21 years, he became the founding director of the Native American Program at Harvard University.

Little Bear is actively involved in U of L’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and continues to advocate for the return of the bison to southern Alberta. One of Little Bear’s most significant and enduring legacies is his work with the United Nations, where he helped to establish a working group on Indigenous populations. It was this working group that originated the concept and initial draft of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has since been ratified by 144 member states. He had many more achievements beyond these listed. Currently, Little Bear is the Vice-Provost of Iniskim Indigenous Relations at U of L.

On a geological scale, Little Bear told a rapt AWA audience, humans are the “brand new kids on the block,” compared to many other species, and in a sense, we have a lot to learn. That can in a way be seen in how conservation in mainstream society is less of a priority compared to the economy. He said conservationists end up having to “clean up the mess that our economies bring about … like parents cleaning the mess the kids make.” He also warns that when it comes to protecting the environment, language has a tendency to “colonize conservation.”

“We have so many definitions, we keep breaking it down,” he said, “and we end up talking and talking about it so much that we never get to the doing.” He said there needs to be a change in the conversation, and added a true leader is someone who can help bring about that change.

Mike Judd

Mike Judd, longtime AWA director in the 1980s and 1990s, has been a lifelong defender of the Castle and Southwest Alberta wildlands. “I’ve been in love with the wild country since the day I was  born,” he said. “Nature is a true value. And I think with the COVID thing, people began to realize that their only escape was to get out into the wilderness and be with nature … I feel like it’s something that we need to defend with all our strength, because it’s clear that we’re losing it everywhere.” Judd, was for much of his life a guide and outfitter involved in hunting, trail riding along the continental divide and dog sled tours. Judd is also a founding member of Rescue the Rockies, Timber Wolf Wilderness Society and Foothills Bison Restoration Society. He’s been an intervener at over a dozen regulatory hearings, and has been featured in the media on multiple occasions to speak on the Eastern Slope wilderness and wildlife issues. He’s also stood on the front lines of several protests, and was “jailed twice.”

In the 1980s, when a company proposed to drill wells at Corner Mountain, Judd was part of a resistance to block any activity going forward — he stood alongside others in front of “great big machines for several days, and got a lot of media attention to the issue.” Getting the word out to public was a critical aspect, he said, as otherwise, he believes the drilling would have quietly gone on without any public awareness.

He said “actual activism” is not something many people are comfortable with. “But the truth of the matter is,” Judd said, “it works.” He added that the demonstrations he took part in in the Castle Provincial Park area “were pretty good proof of that.” Judd admits that standing up for what you believe in can often come at a price.

“I’ve been thrown in jail a couple of times, I’ve been declared crazy. I’ve lost friends …Standing up for anything is not easy,” he said. “But I and many, many others believe that it’s the right thing to do.”

Judd is still involved in an Alberta Energy Regulator hearing on sour gas wells reclamation, and was recently involved with the film production “Coming Home” about the prospect of returning bison to public land.

Dianne Pachal

AWA has much gratitude for the work of Dianne Pachal, who carved out the beginnings of the nonprofit’s journey to becoming a larger scale environmental organization, including having its first paid staff positions. After earning an environmental science degree with distinction and a few years with Alberta’s Fish and Wildlife Division, in December 1979 she became one of the first two staff ever hired by Alberta’s conservation advocacy groups. Through to 1991, she juggled two concurrent, part-time positions: Office of the Environmental Coordinator for five provincial groups and executive director for the AWA. Bringing with her prior organisational development skills, she increased AWA’s annual budget from $10,000 to one-quarter of a million with three core staff, including the initiation of annual fundraising programs such as the Calgary Tower Climb for Wilderness.

Pachal remembers AWA as “a frontline advocacy and activist organization” while she worked for the organization. “One with a very active membership. And the one that the province knew they would have to reckon with,” Pachal said. “From earlier years with AWA I knew whenever a major issue came up … within two weeks we could raise $2,000 and have a lot of letters to the government people talking to their family,” Pachal said.

She said an aspect she loves about the work she’s done with so many environmental groups and causes over the years is the people she met. “I can open a map of Alberta and B.C. and know the stories, and the people. That’s the wonderful part about working in conservation, advocacy and activism,” she said. In 1992, the Government of Canada awarded Dianne a 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal “in recognition of significant contribution to compatriots, community and to Canada.”

Through to joining the Parks Canada service in 2013, she dedicated her passion, tenacity, creativity and sharp strategic mind to activism and advocacy for wilderness preservation and wildlife conservation. She is perhaps most publicly known for the many front-line campaigns to protect Canada’s national parks, and the wilderness, wild rivers, parks and wildlife of Alberta and British Columbia. Many new to a conservation or environmental advocacy task or job have been mentored by her. Pachal said her advice to future generations is to not give up, even in the face of the growing climate disaster.

“My hope is that people don’t get discouraged,” Pachal said. “Of course, there are very difficult times with the effects of climate change upon us.”

Great Gray Owl Award

Like the great gray owl, with unending patience and dedication to purpose, these individuals work in quiet wisdom to conserve wilderness habitat and wild creatures. Our success is a reflection of the enduring commitment they have made to Alberta Wilderness Association. This year’s recipients are:

Gail Docken

Gail is a devoted mother and grandmother whose heart finds solace in the great outdoors. From her earliest memories, nature has beenher haven. Running, hiking, skiing, and paddleboarding are not just activities for Gail; they’re threads in the fabric of her vibrant life. Gail’s days are defined by staying active, a commitment that fuels her spirit and connects her with the beauty surrounding us. As a realtor in Edmonton, Gail enjoys sharing her deep respect for Alberta’s breathtaking landscapes.

For Gail, life is a tapestry where family, outdoor adventures, and a fulfilling career coalesce. Caring for our beautiful Alberta isn’t just a duty; it’s a passion that resonates in every facet of her journey. In the rhythm of running trails, scaling peaks, and navigating waters, she’s discovered the perfect harmony between family bonds, personal pursuits, and the responsibility to preserve the natural wonders that make Alberta truly enchanting.

Nathaniel Schmidt

Originally from Vancouver Island, Nathaniel moved to Alberta to pursue a degree in piano performance at the University of Lethbridge. After working in music for over a decade, he switched gears and now works for Legal Aid Alberta as a criminal defence lawyer. He loves to explore the less trafficked areas of Alberta in the grasslands, parklands, and foothills which is lucky for him because he also has an acute fear of heights. Although he loves going for long hikes, he often doesn’t make it too far if there are any birds to be seen.

Nathaniel began volunteering at AWA in 2017. In that time, he has done everything from painting the office steps, tending to the garden, losing pounds of sweat dressed as the AWA mascot Smoky, and leading campaigns such as the fight to protect the wetlands in the Ricardo Ranch area in Calgary and bringing more attention to OHV use in the Mclean Creek area of Kananaskis. Nathaniel also sits on the board of Calgary River Valleys and More Neighbours Calgary in an effort to bring more attention to the relationship between municipal development, climate change and biodiversity.