Eight people were recognized at the Lake Spirit awards ceremony at the Dec. 18 Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board meeting.

The Lake Spirit Awards honor people making progress at restoring Lake Tahoe. Awards were given for exemplary citizen and exemplary agency representative or environmental scientist.

Exemplary Citizens

Tom Carter, North Shore, for spending his summers diving from his paddleboard to retrieve lost tires and debris from the bottom of Lake Tahoe.

Jeff Poulin, South Shore, for collecting as many as 20 bags of litter a day from alongside bike trails and roads at Lake Tahoe.

Exemplary Agency Representative or Environmental Scientist

Cindy Gustafson, Tahoe City Public Utility District, for ­­­­­­­­­her commitment to the North Shore, particularly in her perseverance to construct bike trails and sidewalks in and around Tahoe City and for her leadership in creating and chairing the nonprofit environmental foundation Tahoe Fund.

Kathy Strain, Lake Tahoe Community College, for being an inspirational and accomplished environmental science educator who also helped secure a $1 million grant to create the Summit to Sand environmental education program to promote environmental stewardship.

Citizens Honorably Mentioned

Dylan Eichenberg for his energy and enthusiasm as a 23-year-old volunteer cleaning up graffiti on rocks along the lakeshore, picking up trash along the beaches, and pulling aquatic invasive weeds to protect Lake Tahoe.

Tom Wendell (posthumous), for his years of working to encourage sustainability and being a passionate, outspoken advocate for improving recreation and non-motorized transportation at Lake Tahoe.

Agency Representatives/Scientists Honorably Mentioned

Missy Mohler, Sierra Watershed Education Partnership, for her work in the Truckee-Tahoe Unified School District to improve students’ understanding of their watershed environment and for creating and maintaining many effective programs.

Dan Shaw, California State Parks, for his efforts battling Eurasian watermilfoil in Emerald Bay .