AUBURN, Ala. —Cliff Webber, a retired research fellow and current visiting professor in Auburn University’s School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, was recently recognized for his contributions to natural resources conservation in Alabama with the W. Kelly Mosley Award for Achievement. The award is given annually to an unsung champion for Alabama’s environment and is administered by the Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences.
Webber was nominated by the staff of Alabama Water Watch, who pointed to his years of work to improve water quality in the Auburn area and statewide as reasons for his nomination.
“Cliff Webber has worked selflessly and tirelessly over the past 20 years, educating children, participating in water quality studies and advocating for clean water and a healthy environment,” said Eric Reutebuch, associate director of AWW. “There are few people in this state who have given so much of their time and talent over the span of two decades for the protection of our environment.”
Webber has served as a leader of Save Our Saugahatchee, heading monitoring efforts within the creek’s 220-square-mile watershed. He was instrumental in drafting the city of Auburn’s erosion and sediment control ordinance, which, since 2002, has prevented tons of sediment from reaching local streams. Webber also led efforts to negotiate safeguards and ongoing monitoring of contamination in Chewacla Creek caused by a local quarry and has led outdoor workshops for area schoolchildren, teaching them the basics of watershed stewardship. He has also worked with state legislators in the development of a comprehensive state water management policy.
Established in 1980, the W. Kelly Mosley Environmental Awards Program recognizes outstanding volunteer conservation efforts in forestry, wildlife, fisheries, soil, water, air, wildflowers, non-game wildlife, environmental education, conservation and urban forestry. The program is named in honor of the late W. Kelly Mosley, an Auburn alumnus and businessman who was an early advocate of forest stewardship and whose Marengo County farm, Pineland, was the first certified TREASURE Forest in Alabama.
For more information, contact Mary Catherine Gaston at -334-844-5805 or mcgaston@auburn.edu.
