By Mike Ferreira, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter Chair

The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter honored Committee for Green Foothills Legislative Advocate Lennie Roberts at its Guardians of Nature event on October 1 for her long and impressive record—a record that we hope will extend much longer—of protecting the peninsula environment in all of its facets.

 Whether it’s a mountain (yes, a mountain), forest, watershed, farmland, endangered species, wetland habitat, iconic bridge, or just plain old soul-satisfying open space, Lennie has fought for it and has established a remarkable won/lost record. Her personal library of paperwork from the ’70s and ’80s is the bane of planners who seem to think nothing happened before the internet came along, and her grasp of the important details in those documents is awe-inspiring.

I’ve seen Lennie step into controversial issues in which—at the time—I thought she didn’t have a chance of winning even a small victory, only to witness a complete victory. She has a sense for what is politically or legally winnable that I can only envy.

Open spaces are not the only beneficiaries of Lennie’s victories. We have landmark land-use legal opinions, bad laws that have been defeated, good laws that have been passed, and protective public agencies empowered.

Lennie is the ultimate multi-tasker—all for our benefit. We can’t honor her enough.

Mike Ferreira is the Chair of the local chapter of the Sierra Club. He has been a volunteer with the organization for 9 years. Mike lives on the Coastside, where he used to serve as a planning commissioner and councilmember. In his spare time Mike enjoys babysitting his grandson.