Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
2005 Grassroots Citizen-Advocate Award
Outstanding Water Advocate Edith Chase
Receives First GLAHNF Award
Edith Chase has spent the last 30 years or more working to
protect the resources in the watershed of Lake Erie and
throughout the Great Lakes Basin. Her affiliations include the
Ohio Coastal Resource Management Project, League of Women
Voters, Kent Environmental Council, Ohio Environmental
Council, Trust for Public Land, Greenspace Working Group of
the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, Advisory Board of
Eco-City Cleveland,and the Coastal Resources Advisory Council.
Edith is active – not just belongs to, but is active with – many
groups that advocate for habitat protection.
In the 1970’s Edith began her activism for Lake Erie and its
tributaries by joining a citizens’ effort to modernize the state’s
water pollution laws, then went on to work for passage of the
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. She began to use the
federal coastal management program to push for a state
version, and in 1982 founded the Ohio Coastal Resource
Management Project, where she published “Who’s Minding
the Shore?” a treatise that advocated hard for protection of
near-shore fisheries and other habitat.
Edith has been one of the main contacts on a controversial
dam near Akron, Ohio, on a beautiful stretch of the Cuyahoga
River. This dam, situated in Gorge Metro Park, is being
considered for a hydro-electric power plant that is dubious for
many reasons. Edith is always willing to make herself available
as a resource for people looking for good information. In this
case, she was available to tell people how the power plant
would prevent the return of many species of fish that
biologists are seeing upstream and downstream of the dam.
At public meetings Edith is a regular participant, and can be
considered a true-across-the-board environmentalist. For
example, at a meeting earlier this year of the Lake Erie
Commission, Edith promoted a wind farm being built in northern
Ohio, then went on to promote hearings on the Great Lakes
Regional Collaboration’s plans for Great Lakes Restoration.
Edith is a person who is energetic, savvy, inspirational,
knowledgeable and can speak with clear arguments for
protecting Lake Erie, and who can disarm her opponents with
her sensibility. This has resulted in Ohio becoming a
participant in NOAA’s coastal management programs, the
adoption of water quality laws, and the establishment of
grant programs for coastal protection – all the while being a
committed grassroots activist.
In her own calm but confident manner, Edith sets a stage for
success. Her commitment to the Great Lakes comes through in
all of the conversations that you have with her. She really is
top-notch – the kind of leader that does communicate and
build coalitions, not just talk about it.
An excerpt from Edith’s 1997 oral testimony to the
International Joint Commission exemplifies why she is a
deserving recipient of this award:
“We’ve made progress in the last
25 years. How much more can we
accomplish in the next 25? Today,
we need to share a vision or we
will share the consequences. How
much will it cost for a clean Great
Lake? The right question is how
much will it cost for children with
three point lower IQ? Or more
people on welfare or in jail? Or
added health care expenses? To
control the pollution in the Great
Lakes so far we have tried to stop a
waterfall at the top. There can
only be frustration in our plans
to clean up contaminated sediments while the same contaminants
are released to our air,land and water… We need to think
in terms of results and performance and measuring progress
toward our goals – our Treaty obligation.”
The Ohio Environmental Council nominated Edith Chase, of
Kent, Ohio, for the 2005 Grassroots Citizen-Advocate Award.
Disclaimer:
The interpretations and conclusions presented in this newsletter represent the opinions of the individual authors. They in no way represent the views of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the C.S. Mott Foundation, subscribers, donors, or any organization mentioned in this publication.
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