STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” blared across the lawn at Trail Creek Cabin Monday night as members of the Sun Valley Forum toasted one of America’s pioneer eco-warriors.

King, who has spent decades fighting for the environment herself, presented the Sun Valley Forum’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award to Brock Evans, who had a long career in Washington State and Washington, D.C., as an advocate with the Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society and the Endangered Species Coalition, helping to pass the Endangered Species Act in 1973.

“Today, for some, that’s in question so we must fight even harder,” she said. “The government spends billions of dollars on clearcutting. And this year they fired our neighbors under the pretense of saving money. They say they need to log lands for housing, but these lands provide housing for beetles and other wildlife.”

A trained attorney, Brock Evans rafted rivers with U.S. senators and submitted to being arrested for blocking logging roads as he became one of the nation’s most respected environmental leaders.

King called Evans one of the most effective warriors in the history of conservation movement.

“We have seen Brock do the impossible, and we can, too, following his principle: Endless pressure, endlessly applied,” King told the audience. “I’ve worked for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and everyone says, ‘You’ll never get that passed.’ And we haven’t … yet.”

Evans’ autobiography, “Endless Pressure, Endlessly Applied,” documents his 50-year career campaigning to save such wilderness areas as the North Cascades, Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, Hells Canyon, the John Day River, Gospel Hump Wilderness, Selway Wilderness and more.

 Monday night, after noting that Sun Valley was as beautiful sa ever, he told the audience that the best phone call he ever made in 1961 when he agreed to take a job at Glacier  National Park following college. He arrived a week later, after journeying thousands of miles across the prairie.

The Sun Valley Forum has brought attendees from around the world to brainstorm how to safeguard Planet Earth.

“I had no idea the country was so big.”

In Seattle, he said, he discovered the North Cascades, Olympic National Park and “all these places to climb.” And he was spurred to activism in 1966 when he stepped out of his warned of a pending clearcut.

“These big giants that would never come back. That unleashed a passion in me,” said Evans, who now lives in LaGrande, Ore.

Evans said he is reminded of the differences he has helped make. But he’s also reminded of places where the simple pleasure of passing a field of wildflower is gone, turned into a strip mall.

Wade Crowfoot, secretary of California’s Natural Resources Agency accepted the Sacred Stewardship Award from Chime Paden Wangdi, one of the members of the Bhutan delegation.

“We’ve protected 220 million acres, and the Endangered Species Act stands tall. It’s still there, and we will continue to fight to keep it,” he said. “Every place in the nation that is now preserved for all of us didn’t just happen.

He encouraged those in the audience to be “keepers of the door,” ushering species through that door into safety.

“It’s still a beautiful planet and it’ still needs us.”

OTHER AWARD RECIPIENTS:

Physicist Tom Buttgenbach was honored with the Gigaton Scale Award for his work creating the largest pipeline of clean energy projects in the United States with enough solar and storge to power 20 homes day and night.

CHANGE AGENT AWARD—Emmy Scott, executive director of Earth Guardians

Scott has dedicated more than a decade to environmental advocacy, channeling her passion into educating young people in more than 60 countries to become leaders at the intersection of climate racial and gender equality.

She prioritizes breaking down stigmas surrounding mental health, advancing place-based solutions and empowering underserved communities to shape a thriving and just future.

“I’ve definitely blossomed at this Forum, and it’s all due to this community,” said Scott.

GIGATON SCALE AWARD—Tom Buttgenbach, founder and CEO of 1^st Avenue Capital and Avantas (8Minute Solar)

A physicist, Buttgenbach created enough clean energy to power 20 million homes day and night. Touted as an energy super hero, he has patented more than 40 clean energy solutions. His Avantaus achieved several industry firsts:

…The Springbok II Solar Farm, which became the first solar facility to undercut fossil fuels at scale, delivering 10 percent of Los Angeles’ power

…The 800 MW Mount Siganl solar cluster—the largest solar project in the United States for more than a decade

…The Eagle Shadow Mountain solar plant

…The Eland solar plants, which delivers more than 60 percent summer capacity factor at cheaper rates than a natural gas plant and 10 times more reliable

…Avantus, the largest U.S. developer of integrated solar systems

…Avantus’ Bellefield project, the firs solar and storage facility to deliver firm fixed-volume power under contract to a 1GW data center.

Buttgenbach told how he started his industry during the Great Recession in 2008 and “it grew and grew and grew.” Don’t worry about fossil fuels, he added.

“They didn’t have to kill Kodak to grow digital photograph. It was their own ignorance that killed them.”

“Today we have the technology, we have the ability,” he said. “But China is building more solar than the Untied States and India is building massive amounts of solar.”

CATALYST AWARD—Jean Oelwang, founding EO of Virgin United and the Planetary Guardians

Oelwang has led the incubation and start-up of several global initiatives with Sir Richard Branson and others. She is currently the founding CEO of the Planetary Guardians, which touts planetary boundaries science. In 2024 the Guardians helped launch the world’s first Planetary Health Check in hopes of inspiring everyone to become guardians of the Planet.

SACRED STEWARDSHIP AWARD—Wade Crowfoot, secretary of California Natural Resources Agency

Crowfoot was a visionary leader in the restoration of the Klamath River, one of the most ambitious ecological restoration efforts in U.S. history. The largest dam removal project ever undertaken in the United States, it reopened 400 miles of salmon habitat and restored the river’s natural flow for the first time in more than a century.

“Look around at this incredible setting,” Crowfoot told attendees. “It’s probably the most memorable scene for a dinner you’ll ever have.”

Crowfoot said that no matter where we travel in the United States we’re traveling through the country of original Americans, whom we’ve wronged.

“And we right wrongs because it’s the right thing to do. They steward 80 percent of biodiversity. They know more about how to treat the land than any government. Listen and learn. If we’re going to shift the paradigm, this time it’s going to be led by the original stewards of the land.”

The Sun Valley Forum, celebrating it tenth year, is hosted by Ketchum-based global sustainability advisory firm Christensen Global. It attracts leaders and innovators from business, government, philanthropy, finance and other sectors to brainstorm solutions for a more resilient world.

“It is the perfect time for the inaugural Sun Valley Resilient Leadership Awards to recognize those who have made a real difference for nature and us all,” said Aimée Christensen, founder and curator of the Sun Valley Forum. “From an iconic lifetime leader to a courageous, effective youth leader, from a builder of steel in the ground projects to a convener shaping strategic collaborations as well as a groundbreaking policymaker, the awardees are incredibly deserving and it is our honor to have them with us.”