Lifetime Achievement

Specific Judging Considerations

• To recognize individuals who have devoted at least 25 years of effective and valuable service to Tennessee’s environmental protection or conservation stewardship; posthumous awards not made
• Notable personal achievements in areas such as natural resource management, conservation, education, public service, and political support toward Tennessee’s conservation and/or environmental protection

2007 Winner of Lifetime Achievement

Winner - Bertha Chrietzberg – Murfreesboro - “The Power of One”
Bertha Chrietzberg has been a tireless and effective champion for outdoor recreation and the protection of Tennessee’s environment for more than 45 years. Bertha was a founding member of the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association created in 1966 and the Tennessee Trails Association founded in 1968. She has been a dominant force in many other non-profit, citizen based organizations including the Tennessee Environmental Council, Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, Friends of Fall Creek Falls, Friends of the Stones River Greenway, the Black Fox Wetland League, the Stones River Watershed Association, and the Tennessee Native Plant Society.

Bertha has been active in the field of environmental education for many decades and played a key role in creating the outdoor recreation major at Middle Tennessee State University through which many of her students have become environmental leaders. Bertha’s work has helped to bring about real, measurable, and lasting changes. She is a true environmental educator by both vocation and inclination, a shining example for all of us of the power of one. As Bertha is inclined to note, “I consider myself an environmental activist. It’s all about doing one’s part. People say, ‘why don’t they do this?’ ‘They’ doesn’t exist. It should be ‘why don’t I do something?’ It’s amazing what one person can do.”

Bertha has rescued rare plants, prevented gravel mining in the Stones River, championed the Stones River greenway route, cleaned up toxic dump sites and conducted numerous wildflower hikes.