Gabby Hillyer receives Brookie Award for environmental leadership
Gabby Hillyer, a doctoral student in ecology and environmental sciences who works on the Mitchell Center’s Strengthening Coastal Economies project, received one of six inaugural Brookie Awards for young environmental leaders from the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), as featured on UMaine News.
The awards are a program of NRCM Rising and will be given every other year to young people “who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and made a significant impact in Maine’s environmental movement.” The awardees receive a $1,000 cash prize and an invitation to attend a nature-based skill-building retreat.
Gabby and the other award winners are featured in a series of videos from NRCM Rising.
Gabby co-developed and coordinates the Maine Shellfish Learning Network, a first-of-its-kind network that connects more than 20 shellfishing communities from Yarmouth to Lubec across multiple projects. During her master’s program in marine policy and oceanography at UMaine, Gabby developed the Bucket Drifter to help gauge how harmful bacteria are flushed out of estuaries, as part of a project with the Medomak Water Quality Partnership.