The 2009 Environmental Heroes, Nicole Schmidt and Derrick Garland, pose in front on one of the trees they planted in the Fort Langley National Historic Park orchard last June. On hand are award sponsor MP Mark Warawa, Fort Langley-Aldergrove MLA Rich Coleman, Township Mayor Rick Green and Gerry Borden of the fort.


The call has gone out to nominate Langley’s Environmental Heroes for 2010.

The nomination process has started, and nominations will be accepted until Monday, May 24.

Langley MP Mark Warawa began recognizing environmental heroes in 2006, shortly after being named parliamentary secretary to the minister of the environment. In 2009, the award was split into two categories — individuals, and businesses and organizations.

The 2009 winners were picked by the public online, and they submitted e-mails to Warawa’s office with their votes. This year’s nominees will be profiled in The Times and online, and then the public will be invited to vote. More than 300 people voted on last year’s entrants.

Last year’s winners planted fruit trees to help revitalize the historic Fort Langley orchard that was once a vital part of the Hudson’s Bay Company fort. With the co-operation of Fort Langley National Historic Site, Warawa arranged to have two young trees planted as the first act in revitalizing the orchard. The revitalizing of the historic orchard will continue this year, with the awards ceremony there on Saturday, June 19.

The 2009 winners were Nicole Schmidt, a 12-year-old student at St. Catherine’s Elementary, and Derrick Garland of Terrasol GeoSolar in Fort Langley. Each planted a young tree for the orchard.

Schmidt founded Save the Rainforest Association in 2007 to bring forward issues about the Amazon rainforest. She holds an annual conference and also produces and sells environmental cleaning products. Garland’s company specializes in hot water heating using solar panels.

Criteria for potential nominees is available at www.markwarawa.com.