The Museum of Natural and Cultural History is now accepting nominations for its fourth annual Oregon Stewardship Award.

Spearheaded by the museum’s advisory council, the annual award recognizes an individual or organization that has involved its community in an environmental or cultural project, one that aligns with the museum's mission to inspire stewardship of Oregon’s collective past, present and future.

This year, thanks to generous gifts from museum supporters Jill Gelineau and Stu Garrett, the museum will offer two $1,000 awards. In light of the recent gifts, the museum has extended the nomination deadline to Friday, March 19. The nomination form is easy to complete and available online.

In addition to their cash awards, recipients will receive recognition in museum publications and on an ‘Oregon Heroes’ display panel in the museum's Explore Oregon exhibit.

Oregon individuals, community groups, nonprofit organizations, K-12 schools and higher education institutions are all eligible nominees, as are national and regional organizations with offices or affiliates in Oregon. Eligible projects are Oregon-based and relate directly to Oregon’s environment or cultures.

To be considered, projects must have meaningful community impact and be ongoing or completed during the 2020 calendar year.

The museum invites groups and individuals to self-nominate by March 19. Nominations also will be accepted from third parties wishing to recognize a group's or individual's stewardship of Oregon’s environment or cultural heritage.

“With the pandemic and the devastating fires across the state, 2020 was an incredibly challenging year for Oregonians, yet individuals and organizations across the state continued their work to inspire stewardship of our collective past, present and future,” said museum advisory council Chair David Piercy. “The MAC is pleased to be able to give a second stewardship award in 2021 to recognize even more of these admirable accomplishments.”