Bioregional Heroes 2000

In 2000, EcoCity Cleveland honored the following Bioregional Heroes:

• Lifetime achievement: Jim Bissell, curator of botany at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, for many years of work discovering the biological diversity of Northeast Ohio and establishing a system of nature preserves to protect the region's endangered habitats.
• Visionary: Ohio Canal Corridor founders and director (Tom Yablonsky, Jeff Lennartz, and Tim Donovan), for pioneering work to envision the Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor and the Cleveland Metroparks Canal Reservation.
• Public official: Kenneth Montlack, vice mayor of Cleveland Heights and chair of the First Suburbs Consortium, for his work to organize the First Suburbs and to speak for the needs of older communities in Greater Cleveland.
• Development project of the year: Adam J. Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College, for demonstrating cutting-edge green design and making ecology a living part of the curriculum.
• Alternative transportation: The Bicycle Advisory Subcommittee of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (Robert Parry, committee chair, and Sally Hanley, staff), for making bicycles an integral part of transportation planning in the region.
• Messenger: Steven Litt, art and architecture critic of The Plain Dealer, for helping to raise the standards of urban design in Northeast Ohio.
• Community activist:Laurel Hopwood, for countless hours of volunteer work with the Sierra Club on the issues of pesticide use and bioengineering.
• Best new organization or program: Cleveland Green Building Coalition and the Redesigning Cleveland for the 21st Century Speakers Series, for raising awareness of the potential for green development to reduce human impact on the planet while being economically successful.
• Newcomer: David Abbott, president of University Circle Inc., for advancing a new urban design aesthetic for the Circle that seeks to reverse years of domination by the automobile and create great places for people.
  

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