RWMWD Annual Recognition Dinner Honors Community Leaders in Stewardship

RWMWD held our annual Recognition Dinner on November 20, celebrating outstanding community partners who advance clean water, habitat, and environmental education across the District. The evening included a reception, dinner, and a full awards program highlighting both LEAP Award recipients and Watershed Excellence Award honorees.

LEAP Awards

The 2025 Landscape Ecology Awards Program recognized exceptional residential, public, and commercial landscapes that support clean water and wildlife through thoughtful ecological design and maintenance. This year’s featured projects showcased the breadth of creativity in water-friendly practices across the District, ranging from artful edible gardens and native plantings to shoreline restorations, memorial pollinator spaces, and full-property transformations demonstrating alternatives to traditional turfgrass.

Watershed Excellence Awards

Three Watershed Excellence Awards highlighted leadership in conservation, volunteerism, and education:

• Urban Roots: Watershed Partner

The East Side St. Paul nonprofit was honored for its conservation internships, youth leadership programs, and hands-on restoration work. RWMWD has particularly benefitted from Urban Roots’ ongoing contributions to shoreline restoration at Lake Phalen.

• Bill Cranford and Rachel Hanks: Good Steward Award

This exemplary couple was recognized for their wide-ranging stewardship of local water resources. The couple has demonstrated sustained leadership through community outreach, including enrolling neighbors in Adopt-a-Drain, assisting with rain garden and native garden projects, supporting youth education activities, and greeting hundreds of residents at WaterFest.

• Henriette Ngo-Bissoy: Outstanding Educator

A longtime science teacher at L’Étoile du Nord French Immersion School, Madame Bissoy was honored for excellence in watershed education. For more than 20 years, she has incorporated local watershed ecology into her classroom curriculum, connecting students directly to the natural systems in their own neighborhood.

A special recognition presentation by Dana Larsen-Ramsey highlighted the glasswork of artist Eric Sommers, who is retiring after providing beautiful awards for this program since 2014. Many thanks to all of the volunteers, partners, and community leaders who contributed to another successful year of preserving and improving water resources in our District.