Restorationist of the Year

The SRF Restorationist of the Year Award was conceived as a way to honor grassroots restorationists. It was first presented, in 1992 to Bill Eastwood, co-director of the Eel River Salmon Restoration Project to acknowledge his work to help salmon and for his innovative design modification to the McBain downstream migrant trap.

The award was renamed the Nat Bingham Memorial Restorationist of the Year award following Nat's death in 1998. Nat was a fisherman and a tireless advocate for salmon.

Since his death, SRF has honored a restorationist each year at our annual conference with a roast and toast fitting for our cabaret. Each year the recipient gets to steward a most exceptional brass sculpture, created by noted sculptor Dick Crane, that captures the spirit of salmon, fish-loving people and the state of California where these practitioners live and work a life dedicated to the recovery of the species. Each year the last restorationist of the year has to part with their "precious" sculpture and pass it on to the next honoree. SRF decided that each restorationist of the year deserved their own award, so in 2005 we honored the past restorationists who were at the 2005 conference with wooden fish sculptures of their own created by John Sutter.

This 2007 photo shows multiple Restorationist of the Year award recipients, including Bill Eastwood, Mel Kreb, Danny Hagans, Gary Flosi, Richard Gienger, Mike Cronin (standing in for his dad), Dave Highland, Gary Peterson, and Mitch Farro. (Photo: Eileen Baglivio)

Another photo of past award winners.