The recipients of our 2015 environmental awards showcase a deep dedication to preserving our community’s natural beauty, resources and quality of life.
Ava Frisinger is the recipient of the Ruth Kees Environmental Award — our community’s highest honor for environmental advocates — and the Issaquah Highlands Community Association is the first Community Environmental Award honoree.
The public is invited to attend a special presentation at the City Council regular meeting, 7 p.m. April 20, 2015, as Mayor Fred Butler and council members recognize the honorees.
Ruth Kees Environmental Award
For decades of leadership and dedication to environmental issues in our community, Frisinger is the 2015 Kees honoree.
The award recognizes the efforts of exemplary individuals for environmental excellence, perseverance and lasting effects.
Through her work and active involvement in many organizations, Frisinger’s contributions to our community and region exemplify Kees’ dedication to a sustainable vision.
Frisinger works tirelessly to raise environmental awareness in our community, and to preserve and protect Issaquah’s iconic salmon.
Frisinger — Issaquah’s longest-serving mayor, who held office from 1998-2013 — is a longtime member of Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (FISH) and president of the organization’s board. She’s also a vest-wearing docent who leads dozens of educational hatchery tours each fall during salmon spawning season.
In addition, she is a Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust board member and a past board member of WRIA 8, a regional group dedicated to salmon conservation in the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish watershed.
Kees’ namesake award honors the legacy of a grassroots activist who for more than four decades advocated for the preservation of landmarks and natural areas, sustainable development, recycling programs, and the protection of the Issaquah Valley Aquifer and Tiger Mountain.
Community Environmental Award
The first Community Environmental Award honoree is the Issaquah Highlands Community Association (IHCA).
Building upon the legacy of the Kees award, the new Community Environmental Award recognizes outstanding achievements by individuals, groups and organizations to conserve, protect and preserve Issaquah’s environmental resources and attributes through community action.
Since its creation in 1996, the IHCA, the urban village’s homeowner’s association, has been dedicated to environmental excellence.
It exemplifies its “Living Green” tagline in many tangible ways, including sustainable landscape management practices, wetland restoration and preservation, and innovative practices — such as using goats to control weeds and invasive plants, and utilizing a stormwater irrigation system that conserves potable water.