2026 Environmental Stewardship Awards recognize three groups
Three groups were recognized by the Board of Larimer County Commissioners for their dedication to the environment in Larimer County at the 2026 Environmental Stewardship Awards.
For 31 years, the commissioners have presented these awards to community members, businesses, and organizations to congratulate them and celebrate their efforts to protect our climate and environment. “For 31 years, this tradition really reflects our community's resiliency, the way that we face environmental challenges, and that we work together to face them,” said Larimer County Commissioner Jody Shaduck-McNally.
Since its inception, the number of awards given out now totals 112. “These awards are really a big deal, and recognize excellence in dedication, innovation, leadership, education, and sustainability. These recipients all embrace all of those values.”
Nominations for the awards are reviewed by the Larimer County Environmental and Science Advisory Board, and makes recommendations to the commissioners to select the award winners.
Jeff Puckett, City of Fort Collins – Shift Your Ride Program
City of Fort Collins Transportation Demand Management Specialist Jeff Puckett has grown the city’s first Transportation Demand Management Plan into a public-facing program with emphasis on the tools our community members need to choose sustainable transportation.
Puckett’s work has helped double the number of employees biking to work, while almost 300 users of the Shift Your Ride program are finding carpools, taking more efficient routes, biking, or using public transit and earning rewards.
To boost alternative transportation methods, beginning in May 2026, Fort Collins also joined the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Regional “Summer Moves” challenge to improve air quality and use sustainable transit options like biking, walking, vanpooling, and carpooling while logging sustainable miles traveled. Together, these innovations have resulted in more than 8,400 sustainable trips traveled.
Peaks to People Water Fund
The combination of public, private, and philanthropic funding helps Peaks to People help our community members protect their homes from the impacts of wildfire. Fifteen partners work together to help align the Wildfire Ready Action Plan Wildfire Ready Action Plan for the Big Thompson Watershed.
Peaks to People has deployed more than $8.5 million toward forest restoration from wildfire, while reducing wildfire risk through various mitigation activities. Forest restoration after a wildfire is important for protecting our soil so our water stays clean and runs off in a manageable way, while making our lives better.
Peaks to People has a unique approach to environmental stewardship, linking those who need clean water and landscapes to provide it. The greatest resource in the West is its water. Our health, wealth, and quality of life all depend on clean, available water. Wildfire can threaten the watersheds that supply water to our communities, and Peaks to People matches funding donors with land stewards interested in forest health and water.
Red Feather Lakes Wildfire Defense Project
Four mountain communities in Larimer County joined together in a common goal of wildfire mitigation with the Red Feather Lakes Wildfire Defense Project through a partnership with the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed and the Larimer County Office of Emergency Management.
The communities developed a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, engaging in partnerships between the Glacier View Fire Protection District, Crystal Lakes Fire Protection District, Poudre Canyon Fire Protection District, and Cherokee Meadows Road Association.
It’s a long-term investment in community resilience, bringing communities together, so that when a wildfire occurs, the landscape and people are ready to endure. Community partnerships, solidarity, and education have resulted in these communities being better prepared and have also created strong resilience among members.
