Calusa Waterkeeper Sue Dahod named Volunteer of the Year
According to Calusa Waterkeeper Ranger Sue Dahod, Calusa Waterkeeper gave out several awards on its 30th anniversary Friday, Nov. 7
“I was the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award,” Dahod said.
There were multiple presentations given by the various recipients , she explained. Dahod has been the ranger zone leader for Pine Island and Matlacha for approximately the past 5 years.
“We have a really good active zone here. Calusa Waterkeeper trains rangers. We usually go through training once or twice a year. We have three new rangers coming aboard for our zone this time around,” Dahod said, adding that these are good people who are very knowledgeable about the environment.
In addition to their volunteer positions, other projects the rangers are involved in, she said, are things such as vertical oyster gardens, annual quarterly workshops, seagrass surveys, as well as advocacy for fecal indicator bacteria samples. There is also a volunteer in her zone who is keeping track of spills in Lee County and making sure they are reported in a timely manner.
A memorial for late Calusa Waterkeeper Capt. Codty Pierce, who passed away unexpectedly in January of this year, is currently being planned with the Calusa Land Trust.
“We’re putting together a proposal for a memorial for Codty and maybe some kind of an environmental starter grant to do some protection for some of the Calusa Land Trust parks,” Dahod said.
All in all, Dahod said she was happy to have been awarded volunteer of the year, although, she said, it was bittersweet, as she’d heard about it earlier and then the organization lost Pierce, who she suspects had something to do with the decision of her win.
“I really appreciate that, but I want to honor him, too. He was really a major player,” Dahod said.
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