Volunteer Awards

We greatly value our volunteers! The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Volunteer of the Year award acknowledges the efforts of exceptional individuals who donate time and energy to support the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries mission. Volunteers are committed to protecting the sanctuary and are great stewards of its natural resources. Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary annual recipients also become eligible for the National Marine Sanctuary System Volunteer of the Year award.

Honoree List

2024: Duffy Burns

Duffy Burns has served as volunteer docent at Monterey Bay Bay National Marine Sanctuary's Coastal Discovery Center for the past eight years. He has dedicated countless hours to inspiring visitors from all over the world by sharing his passion for marine science and conservation. He has helped bring greater awareness to Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in the local community through his work in the visitor center as well as helping to recruit new volunteers. His guidance has also played a critical role in re-establishing elementary school field trips to the Coastal Discovery Center. Duffy's mentorship has aided both staff and volunteers serving as informal educators and been critical in inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards.

2023: Jessica Baum

Jessica has contributed to multiple volunteer water quality monitoring programs with Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. She has participated in the sanctuary's Snapshot Day and Urban Watch programs which are both community science programs that take water quality samples from local streams and outfalls that lead into the ocean. These community science programs are crucial to collecting large volumes of data over short periods of time. Without the volunteers like Jessica assisting the sanctuary with these water quality efforts, we would not have all of our long term data sets to assess the water quality of creeks, rivers, and stormwater outfalls that lead into the sanctuary from the surrounding watersheds and urban landscapes. Jessica has shown up consistently to these water quality events and continuously does a great job at properly collecting water quality samples and the corresponding data.

2022: Brian Nelson

Brian served 11 years on the Sanctuary Advisory Council as the Diving Seat and has chaired the council for his last four years. During his tenure, his focus has been to better engage ocean dependent businesses, recognizing their conservation efforts and enhancing sanctuary support. Brian is passionate about connecting our constituents to the sanctuary and has developed two bi-monthly targeted newsletters, reaching thousands of subscribers affiliated with the diving, recreation, and tourism communities, greatly enhancing the sanctuary's reach and providing an avenue for them to respond. Feedback from these constituents was key for Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's management plan review process. Brian's outreach efforts led to the Sanctuary Advisory Council Challenge, where council members were tasked with raising their own bar in terms of better community engagement.

2020: Kim Akeman

Kim Akeman embodies the mission of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in her work as a Bay Net volunteer. She is devoted to educating and informing coastal visitors about the marine life that inhabit Monterey Bay and keeps watch over the harbor seals that pup on Monterey Peninsula beaches by monitoring births, photographing moms and pups, and alerting local enforcement officials to issues concerning harbor seals. By spending over a thousand hours each year, over the past 10 years, Kim makes a noticeable impact in the number of people that hear about the sanctuary and the protections for harbor seals and other marine life.

2018: Marjorie "Marj" Sewell

At 87 years young, Marj Sewell is one of the most senior and enthusiastic volunteers for the Coastal Discovery Center (CDC). She was in the first docent training class in 2006, and has contributed 1,700 hours of her time and expertise to education and interpretation of the sanctuary. Marj has a unique connection with the land on which the CDC resides, as she grew up in San Simeon village and attended a one-room schoolhouse built for the children of employees who worked for William Randolf Hearst. Her mother was a secretary and her father a gardener for WR Hearst, which makes her somewhat of an expert in local history. Marj therefore helped to develop the CDC's local history program, gives tours of Old San Simeon Village and has helped research content for a shore whaling exhibit constructed next to the center. As a retired teacher, she has taught hundreds of students who came to the center each year. Also an expert seamstress and craftsperson, Marj has led volunteers in the creation of a life-sized mermaid for the annual Scarecrow Festival in Cambria, and created an ocean mural weave project to encourage public participation at fairs. Marj has appeared at dozens of off-site outreach events, and has served on the planning team for Ocean Fair. Marj Sewell truly inspires people of all ages with her endless enthusiasm and love for the area and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

2017: Scott Benson and Karin Forney

Scott Benson developed the volunteer training course and methods for BeachCOMBERS in 1997 with significant science and agency application advice from Dr. Karin Forney. Once the program was off and running and administered by NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, they naturally stayed on as volunteers. They have been monitoring the same three mile stretch of beach monthly for 21 years, documenting beach cast birds and marine mammals. Both Scott and Karin show a dedication to Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and have been model volunteers for these past 21 years by walking their beach, without fail, each month. Scott and Karin's efforts to create BeachCOMBERS has resulted in 185 volunteers contributing to over 31,000 hours of labor.

2016: Wendy "Wen" Shea

Wendy 'Wen' Shea is a docent at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center in Santa Cruz, California, interpreting exhibits and providing information about the sanctuary to visitors. Wen completed the sanctuary's guided tour training and is now an active participant in our school field trip and public tour program. She leads tours of the center as well as beach cleanups and exploration activities for groups of all ages. Wen also spearheaded the development of a new docent-led preschool reading hour program, which consists of weekly storytime, crafts and songs. Wen also worked with the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation to get the Exploration Center involved in "The Human Race," a local 5K fundraising event.

2015: Connie Rose

Connie has been a volunteer for just a few years but in that time she has made quite an impact. Connie volunteers for all the water quality monitoring programs (First Flush, Urban Watch, Snapshot Day, and Santa Rita Creek Monitoring) as well as Bay Net, Team OCEAN and BeachCOMBERS. Connie has significantly contributed to overall knowledge about Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, as well as offshore Unusual Mortality Events (UMEs) by walking beaches, and has also significantly contributed to the growing data set about water quality flowing into the sanctuary during both wet and dry weather times of the year. Connie embodies a dedicated volunteer: curious, energetic, and engaged with her visitors to help them understand and appreciate the wonders within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

2014: John Menke

For six years, John Menke has tirelessly donated more than 1,000 hours sharing his passion and expertise with the Coastal Discovery Center in San Simeon. A retired marine ecology professor, John is constantly suggesting new events, activities, lesson plans and projects to improve the center. A strong leader, John educates school groups, organizes and runs outreach events, conducts and leads citizen science monitoring programs, maintains partnerships with local marine organizations and helps train other docents. John inspires everyone he comes into contact with—visitors, staff, partners and other volunteers. John's unwavering loyalty to the center and sanctuary are why we are recognizing him as our Volunteer of the Year.

2013: Sandra Cohen

Sandra is an inaugural member of the Sanctuary Exploration Center Docent class of June 2012. Since the Exploration Center's grand opening in July 2012, Sandra has become an integral member of the Exploration Center team, donating over 200 hours in 2013. In addition to her regular weekly docent shift, Sandra has enthusiastically integrated herself into every additional volunteer opportunity available to her. She was involved in a docents working group who helped develop the center's new guided tour program and has since led over 10 tours. Additionally, she assists with sanctuary sponsored school field trips and has been involved in the Exploration Center's intertidal monitoring team, requiring her to learn even more about local invertebrates. After retiring as an UC Santa Cruz shuttle driver, Sandra looked for new opportunities to learn and grow. Although she had no formal marine science or teaching experience, she knew she had a passion for the sanctuary and wanted to share it with others. From the moment Sandra joined the Exploration Center team, her enthusiasm and curiosity for the marine environment and marine conservation have transformed from a spark to a flame, and her knowledge and interpretation skills have grown tremendously. On her own time, to strengthen her interpretation skills, Sandra enrolled and completed the 40-hour National Association of Interpretation Certified Interpretive Guide Course.

2012: Craig Noke

Craig Noke has been an incredible volunteer for Team OCEAN (starting in 2009), and in 2012 he also started volunteering for Bay Net all while continuing his volunteer duties for Urban Watch, First Flush, Livestock and Lands, and Snapshot Day. In all, Craig has donated well over 100 hours in 2012 and has become an indispensable volunteer for the sanctuary. Craig's dedication also extends to his volunteering with other organizations including MPA Watch through the Otter Project and traveling to far off countries to teach English with his wife Mary. Craig was a long time employee of Intel and is pretty dialed in as far as technology goes–he is always available to give a quick chat or lesson about wiki pages, Google docs, Drop Box, or some new web based training that might be beneficial to the volunteer programs. Craig is always willing to get involved, always willing to help out, he strengthens the sanctuary system as a whole because he is an amazing ambassador to our sanctuaries. He can easily talk to anyone and help them understand why protecting sanctuaries and the oceans is so important. He gets the connections because he volunteers for so many different programs, sees how it all links up and is able to get others excited and involved.

2011: Chris Miller and Sharon McGuire

Chris Miller and Sharon McGuire are BeachCOMBERS volunteers that walk an assigned beach and look for beach-cast birds and marine mammals. For any and all birds or marine mammals, information such as species, size, condition must be collected as well as any samples or whole carcasses collected. As part of the BeachCOMBERS program, Chris and Sharon are also called upon to get assistance for wounded or sick marine mammals, and collect tar balls or evidence of oil. Chris and Sharon have often gone beyond the call of duty in collecting carcasses during die-off events, calling in strandings, and finding sea otters. But more than that, they often take the initiative to ask critical questions, seek understanding of unusual findings on the beach (e.g. "green stuff", helicopter activity, animal rituals), attended enrichment events and show great enthusiasm for the protection of the marine animals we study and the sanctuary as a whole. They bring in banded birds, call in stranded marine mammals and identify and report unusual species. Chris and Sharon are passionate about this work, they have conducted monthly beach surveys to help to detect unusual mortality events including oiling, entanglement, harmful algal blooms, and marine debris.

2010: Margaret "PJ" Webb

Margaret "PJ" Webb was selected as the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's Volunteer of the Year and honored by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF) on June 7, 2011 in Washington, D.C. Margaret was one of 14 individuals across the National Marine Sanctuary System recognized for their outstanding volunteer service. Since 2004, Margaret has dutifully served as the only Sanctuary Advisory Council representative for the southern Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary region, often traveling long distances to attend meetings. She represents the sanctuary at all southern area events such as the Coastal Discovery Center Ocean Fair and Coastal Clean Up Day and has participated in five Snapshot Day events. Margaret also provides public outreach about the sanctuary through speaking engagements and by exhibiting at local events. Margaret has been a sanctuary BeachCOMBERS volunteer since 2006, monitoring the beaches of the sanctuary's southern region and also volunteers for California's Marine Biotoxin Monitoring Program. Margaret is highly involved in local issues related to the sanctuary and stays informed about Cambria's desalination project, serves on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Santa Rosa Creek Watershed Management Plan and attends meetings held by a group of citizens lobbying for sanctuary expansion.

2009: Thom Akeman

With a set of binoculars on a tripod and a few hand-held binoculars Thom Akeman educates and inspires visitors to the Monterey region that stop along the local recreation trail at the Hopkins Marine Station to see our local harbor seal population. Thom is one of our local experts on the harbor seals and is out at his station every Sunday from 10 am until noon or 1 pm. The harbor seals are an easy draw, a destination for wildlife watchers that stop to see the harbor seals and sometimes a few northern elephant seals too. Thom adds to the experience by allowing visitors to see the harbor seals up close (through binoculars) and adding information about their natural history and community. Thom has furthered the message of the sanctuary by personally talking with 10,575 people about topics such as the local harbor seals, the sanctuary, and what makes this wonderful place we live next to qualify as a sanctuary. With so many visitors to the Monterey area having little to no knowledge of the marine sanctuary, Thom provides an incredible breadth of knowledge concerning the sanctuary, local wildlife, as well as an incredible local knowledge.

2008: Phil Adams

Phil Adams has dedicated his time to many different sanctuary programs. He and his wife Carole began volunteering in San Simeon in 1997 for the newly formed Friends of the Elephant Seal (FES), which at that time was part of Bay Net. Phil and Carole wrote and published the FES training manual, revising it in 2007—all proceeds benefit the Friends of the Elephant Seal. In 2002, Phil and Carole joined the first training for BeachCOMBERS in the southern region. They have faithfully patrolled Arroyo de la Cruz, one of the remotest beaches in the area since then. They are also faithful Snapshot Day volunteers, annually monitoring water quality at creeks in the San Simeon region. In 2003 Phil joined Team OCEAN, the kayaker naturalist program off Cannery Row in Monterey and Elkhorn Slough. Phil has been a devoted volunteer driving four hours round-trip and volunteering one weekend per month. In 2006, Phil became a docent for the newly established Coastal Discovery Center at San Simeon Bay. In addition, Phil and Carole volunteer for the sea otter monitoring program under USGS, and participate with the NOAA Fisheries gray whale project at Piedras Blancas Light Station. They also participate in Coastal Cleanup Day and lead a team of volunteers at the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse property. Phil leads monthly natural history presentations and field trips for the Central Coast Natural History Association, always describing the role of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in every program.

2007: Hunter Kilpatrick

In July 2006, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary opened its first interpretive facility, the Coastal Discovery Center at San Simeon Bay. Hunter graduated from the first docent training in June 2006, before the facility was finished. During installation of the exhibits, Hunter (who is a licensed contractor) volunteered hundreds of hours assisting the installation crew with drywall, painting, problem solving and repairs. He stayed up late hours to assist with the completion of the facility before the grand opening. He also assisted with the installation and care of the live fish aquarium. Hunter has been the Center's photographer and recorder, taking hundreds of photos of the docent training, grand opening, and other events. Hunter has been with the program for only 9 months, since the first docent training for the Coastal Discovery Center. In this time he has logged over 500 hours, far more than any other volunteer. Through his efforts at the Coastal Discovery Center, Hunter has given hundreds of hours of his time to support the goals of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

2006: Mary Scannell

Mary Scannell has volunteered for the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Citizen Watershed Monitoring Network (The Network) for the last 5 years doing water quality monitoring in all four of the Network's monitoring programs. She is a team leader for the annual Snapshot Day event. She monitors twice a month from June through October for the Urban Watch program in Monterey, CA. Mary participates each year in the First Flush monitoring program in which volunteers mobilize day or night to capture samples of the first big rain of the season. Beginning in 2005, Mary began monitoring water quality monthly in two watersheds in the City of Salinas. She faithfully participates in all of the training events and provides leadership to the new volunteers. She is a skilled water monitor and her dedication and expertise make her a very valuable member of the Citizen Monitoring Network. Mary is dedicated and concerned for the sanctuary and its watersheds. Mary is committed to doing her part to establish a valuable long term water quality data set that will help resource managers to effectively protect and manage the biodiversity and habitats found in and around the Monterey Bay. She is committed to resource protection and improved water quality. She integrates her science based education to help improve the quality and quantity of the data collected by citizens. As a long term volunteer, Mary is instrumental in the success of the Citizen Monitoring Network and the recognized value of citizen collected data.

2005: John Fischer

John was born and raised on the east coast, graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in physics. He moved to Los Angeles and worked for the Los Angeles Fire Department for nearly a decade. During that time he assisted the Los Angeles Police Department on the task force that took part in solving the Hillside Strangler case. He later worked for the LAPD, and then for the Los Angeles City Library. In 1989, John moved to Pacific Grove and immediately became a frequent speaker at City Council and other public meetings, advocating for environmental issues. John had a gift for explaining difficult concepts in simple terms that made complex topics understandable. His discourse was not only informative, but always polite, even in heated disagreements. John contributed a lot of time and effort to many organizations. He was a co–founder of EcoCorps with former Pacific Grove Mayor Sandy Koffman and her husband; he served as President and Trustee of Friends of the Sea Otter; he volunteered for Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in all its programs that monitor water quality, and also served for years on its Conservation Working Group.

2004: Stephanie Harlan

Ms. Harlan started her volunteer work for the sanctuary through her tireless efforts to help designate the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in the early 1990's. She promoted the sanctuary as both a citizen and member of the Capitola City Council. Ms. Harlan had served as the Sanctuary Advisory Council Chair since April of 2000 serving two full terms as Chair. Her seat on the advisory council represents local governments via the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG). Ms. Harlan was elected Mayor of the City of Capitola. She has brought to Capitola the sanctuary's Urban Watch program to help clean local urban runoff, annual water quality monitoring, new signage and other programs of the sanctuary. Ms. Harlan is also a leader in efforts to implement the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail. This monumental project is a coastal trail that will connect the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey, and their cities, with interpretive signs about Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary throughout the trail. Millions of annual visitors to Monterey Bay will know about the sanctuary due to Ms. Harlan's efforts and leadership on the scenic trail project.