The Dr. Victor Cecilioni Award winner for the Environmentalist of the Year in 1996 is Ken Hall, a name justly synonymous with the successes of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan.
Ken has played the central role in the development of the Bay Area Restoration Council since its inception in 1991, serving as its Executive Director before terms as Vice President and President. He sits on several BARC committees and represents it on several more. He also served as Ontario president of the remedial action public advisory committees and has played an important role in the development of the RAP in Severn Sound.
He has been the co-ordinator of the Nature Walkathon, chair of the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve Interpretive Centre committee, and recently represented Hamilton-Wentworth’s sustainability initiatives in Mexico and Gaza, likely making him the busiest retiree in Hamilton-Wentworth.
Ken is a tireless seeker of ‘win-win’ solutions. He generates ideas, designs projects, finds funding, takes the lead in implementing them, and usually does much of the ‘grunt’ work that guarantees their success. Just one example is the Classroom Botanical Nursery Program that has recruited 22,000 students in over 800 classes to grow plants for wetland restoration.
Ken is an inspiration to everyone who works with him. He is known for practical and realistic measures to protect the environment and ensure their sustainability, and he searches for no other reward than a better future.