Pauline Gerrard of local world-class scientific facility IISD-ELA receives international award for environmental education and outreach
(International Falls, MN and Kenora, ON) March 11, 2020
Pauline Gerrard of the IISD-ELA was honoured with the Wilson Stewardship Award at the 2020 Rainy Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum. From left: Todd Sellers, LOWWSF, Pauline Gerrard, IISD-ELA, Kelli Saunders, LOWWSF, and Jeff Pike, White Iron Chain of Lakes Association. Pauline Gerrard, Deputy Director of IISD Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) in northwestern Ontario, has just received the 2020 Wilson Stewardship Award.
She was honoured for this international award for her leadership in developing environmental education programs at IISD-ELA; for building knowledge sharing between scientists, First Nations community members and the general public; and for helping to educate the scientists of tomorrow.
The Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation presented the award to Pauline on behalf of the community of scientists, resource managers and water stewards from the United States and Canada at the 2020 International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum in International Falls, Minnesota.
The Foundation presents the Wilson Stewardship Award annually to recognize individuals, groups, or projects that are making significant contributions to environmental stewardship in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed.
“The science done at IISD-ELA has for decades been critical to solving environmental problems and informing public policy in Canada and around the world”, said Todd Sellers, Foundation Executive Director, “As Deputy Director of IISD-ELA, Pauline Gerrard is building high impact education and outreach programs that reach the broadest audience and those who can make a difference.”
The selection committee for the Wilson Award consists of individuals involved in stewardship and civic engagement work from Canada and the United States. It was their unanimous recommendation to the Foundation that Ms. Gerrard be given this award for her tireless efforts to promote the unique and meaningful work of the world-renowned IISD-ELA to a wide variety of audiences and her role in building important partnerships that help to increase knowledge and build capacity throughout the watershed and around the globe.
“I am honoured, thrilled and humbled to receive the Wilson Stewardship Award on behalf of the education and outreach team and everyone from IISD-ELA who has worked tirelessly over the last six years to open the doors of the world’s freshwater laboratory and show the world how incredible this place,” said Gerrard.
“We should all be proud of the ground-breaking freshwater science that is happening right here in the Lake of the Woods-Rainy River region and the impact it is having all around the world. We’ve worked so hard to make sure that students and citizens from all walks of life get to learn and see first-hand how incredible the whole-lake research we do really is, and this award is a testament to all that hard work.” With the Wilson Award, the Foundation and the international research, resource management, and stewardship community at the Forum thank Pauline and IISD-ELA for her efforts to foster and build partnerships to steward the resources we all share and enjoy in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed.
The Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation is a registered charity based in Kenora, Ontario, working to develop a sustainability plan for the binational Lake of the Woods Basin, based on sound science, international cooperation and collaboration.
IISD Experimental Lakes Area is the world’s freshwater laboratory. A series of 58 lakes and their watersheds in northwestern Ontario, Canada, IISD-ELA is the only place in the world where scientists can research on and manipulate real lakes to build a more accurate and complete picture of what human activity is doing to freshwater lakes. The findings from its 50 years of ground-breaking research have rewritten environmental policy around the world—from mitigating algal blooms to reducing how much mercury gets into our waterways—and aim to keep fresh water clean around the world for generations to come.
For more information about the Wilson Stewardship Award: www.lowwsf.com/wilson-award and to coordinate an interview with Todd Sellers, please contact:
Todd Sellers,
Executive Director,
Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation
866-370-8891
204-981-4283 (cell)
For more information about IISD Experimental Lakes Area visit https://www.iisd.org/ela/ and to coordinate an interview with Pauline Gerrard, please contact:
Sumeep Bath
Communications Manager
IISD Experimental Lakes Area