Awards

The Jack and Martha Carter Conservation Fund supports two $500 awards for native plant conservation or education. The Science Teacher Award recognizes a grade 6-12 science teacher who has been dedicated to environmental education and increased student awareness and appreciation of native plants. The Jack and Martha Carter Conservation Champion Award recognizes outstanding efforts in native plant conservation or education. Both awards include $500 and a complimentary one-year membership to NPSNM. Presenting a Champion or Teacher award is not mandatory if suitable recipients are not nominated in a given year.

Science Teacher Award for 2026

This award recognizes teaching accomplished in 2024 or 2025; it is not for a proposed project or curriculum. In addition to the monetary award, teachers will receive a complimentary copy of a native plant guidebook. Grade 8-12 teachers may also request a free copy of From Ponderosa to Prickly Pear, the NM native plants curriculum developed by the Institute for Applied Ecology. Teachers can nominate themselves, or someone familiar with their work can nominate them.

Students, parents, other teachers, or administrators are welcome to nominate candidates. Teachers who are members of NPSNM are just as eligible as nonmembers.

Click here to download a fillable form for nominating a science teacher of the year. (unlinked until application for 2026 is ready)

Nominations must be sent to cartergrantapps “at” gmail.com. The deadline for the 2026 award is December 31st, 2025.

Our recent awardees were:

Chuck Buxbaum, 2024, for teaching students at Sandia Prep in Albuquerque about plants, the ecosystem services they provide, and how human activities alter ecosystems.

Claire Noonan, 2023, for her hands-on environmental science projects with Santa Fe High School Students.

Estela Thompson, 2021for teaching Santa Rosa students about the endangered native plants of Blue Hole Cienega and her course on wetland ecology.

Nathan Moore, 2019, for involving students from the Santa Fe School of Art & Sciences in stewardship of the Santa Fe River, including planting native trees and removing invasive plants.

The Jack and Martha Carter Conservation Champion Award

The Carter Conservation Champion Award honors those who have contributed above and beyond the usual in the conservation of native plants and/or education about them. The chapter sponsoring the annual conference is responsible for nominating an awardee. It can be an individual or an organization. The awards began in 2018. Here are the awardees:

Jim McGrath, Albuquerque Chapter, 2021, for his botanical contributions during his career and his advocacy for wetlands in the Zuni Mountains.

Judy Ackerman, El Paso Chapter, 2022, posthumously, for her tireless efforts to protect the Castner Range National Monument.

Angela Flanders, Gila Chapter, 2018, for her tremendous efforts in overcoming the specimen mounting and data entry backlog at the WNMU Dale A. Zimmerman Herbarium.

David Anderson, Otero Chapter, 2020, a botanist, former White Sands Missile Range land manager, and field trip organizer, for his generous work supporting native plants and NPSNM.

Melanie Gisler, Santa Fe Chapter, 2019, director of the Southwest Program for the Institute of Applied Ecology, for collaborative efforts in restoration and native plant conservation.

George Miller, Taos Chapter, 2023, posthumously, as an advocate for native plants and their conservation with his writing and presentations.