ENVIRONMENT: Tributes to Christine Sevilla take root

By Jeremy Moule on December 30, 2009

Christine Sevilla worked passionately for the protection of sensitive natural areas, particularly wetlands.

So it's fitting that her friends and family want to preserve a natural area in her honor - a wetland area in good shape would be ideal, says Steven Daniel, a naturalist and friend of Sevilla's.

That's just one idea being discussed as a tribute to Sevilla, who was killed earlier this month. The Genesee Land Trust and the Genesee Valley Audubon Society are both accepting donations in her memory. The Audubon Society wants to build an interpretative trail, which could feature some of Sevilla's photos, says June Summers, the organization's president. A site for the trail hasn't been selected. The Land Trust is participating in the land preservation conversation.

Some of Sevilla's publications - finished and unfinished - are also getting attention. [Sevilla was a designer and photographer, as well as a noted environmentalist.] She put the publications out to celebrate the areas she loved and to bring attention to issues like watersheds and invasive plants species.

Copies of her 2010 calendar, "Thanatopsis," which Sevilla began distributing in November, is being sold through the Genesee Land Trust to raise money for the memorial projects.

The Audubon Society wants to reprint Sevilla's "Garden Villains" brochure, Summers says. Sevilla conceived the brochure as a quick reference to help local gardeners identify, control, and avoid planting invasive plant species. Sevilla was working on a follow-up at the time of her death and the Audubon Society would like to publish that as well.

"Christine was a really creative and innovative environmentalist," Summers says.