2018 Alison J. Walsh Award for Outstanding Environmental Advocacy
Barbara Rubine of Cranston, R.I.
Barbara Rubine has been a champion for Stillhouse Cove and Upper Bay waters for over 20 years through her work with the Edgewood Waterfront Preservation Association. She has united neighbors, the City of Cranston, state and federal agencies, and Save The Bay behind her vision and has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for stormwater treatment and marsh restoration projects. Thanks to Rubine’s leadership, a once-neglected and overlooked Stillhouse Cove is now a thriving salt marsh, home to egrets and mummichogs, where hundreds of people enjoy the beauty of the cove daily.
Over the years, Rubine has mobilized well over 1,000 people in shoreline cleanups and marsh plantings at the cove and was recently a vocal and effective advocate for maintaining fishing access to the cove’s waters. Beyond Stillhouse Cove, Rubine frequently lends her voice to the ongoing need to invest in water quality improvements in the Upper Bay.