Wilderness advocate wins environmental award
Rick Johnson, left, executive director of Idaho Conservation League, poses with Sandy Compton, the winner of this year’s Keith and Pat Axline Award for Environmental Activism. (Courtesy photo)
Sandy Compton, program coordinator for Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, recently was awarded the Keith and Pat Axline Award for Environmental Activism by the Idaho Conservation League.
He received the award May 19 during the League’s Wild Idaho Conference in Stanley, Idaho, a news release states.
Compton received the award for his work on the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, an effort he’s worked on since before Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness existed. He’s worked for that organization for eight years. His writing about the Scotchmans and other wild places can be seen in multiple regional publications and in his own books.
Nominating Compton for the award “was a no-brainer,” said Phil Hough, Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness executive director and a previous award recipient, in a prepared statement.
“He lives and breathes the Scotchman Peaks and was worked tirelessly not just to preserve the area’s character through Wilderness designation, but also through stewardship work and by introducing kids to nature both in and out of the Scotchmans,” he stated.
Established in 1995, the Keith and Pat Axline Award for Environmental Activism is named for two long-time Idaho Conservation League members dedicated to conservation causes, the news release states.
The proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness straddles the Idaho-Montana border southwest of Troy and west of Bull Lake.