Woodstock Resident Receives Lifetime Achievement Honour

Thursday, 7 March 2019 14:08

Photo Credit: The Ontario Heritage Trust – Larry Lamb with Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdeswell and Ontario Heritage Trust Chair, Harvey McCue.

Larry Lamb was presented with the award from the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Trust at a ceremony at Queens Park last month.

WOODSTOCK - A Woodstock resident and local botany and ecosystem restoration expert has been given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Larry Lamb was presented with the award from the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Trust at a ceremony at Queens Park last month. Lamb is a well-known advocate for naturalizing gardens and landscapes, has been an active life-long supporter of natural heritage conservation within Waterloo Region, the province and beyond. Regional Chair Karen Redman says Larry Lamb is one of those volunteers whose passion for his field of expertise is contagious.

"He is able to affect the people around him, especially the next generation of conservationists. Without people like Larry, the work to recognize and protect our local ecosystems would have been a lot more difficult to undertake. Regional Council and staff recognized the important role Larry has played by nominating him for this award, and we are pleased the Ontario Heritage Trust has recognized his contributions.”

Lamb has been a lecturer at the University of Waterloo for over 40 years. In his retirement he has continued to share his expertise and connections, influencing the way natural heritage features have been identified, valued and protected.

Locally, Lamb drew on his extensive knowledge of the region’s flora and fauna, and natural areas to help identify what would be designated Environmentally Sensitive Policy Areas (ESPAs) by the Region of Waterloo. These were the first municipally-designated natural areas in the country, and continue to be conserved through the Region’s Official Plan.

In an interview with Heart FM, Lamb says he was honoured to receive the Life Time Achievement award.

"I was really surprised, I am relatively young and I felt it was a little bit premature but I was really appreciative that the contribution I have made was really important because I do this as a day to day thing, volunteering, leading hikes and helping people with their gardens and basically following environmental news, I mean it has been my life."

Lamb lived in K/W for the past 50 years and only recently moved to the Friendly City with his wife.

"I am slowly getting involved with wife in Woodstock, I lived in K/W for 60 odd years and we are starting to feel like Woodstock is home. I joined the naturalist club here, a wonderful group, we have an interest in the Art Gallery and one of the reasons we moved here was the fabulous hiking trail network."