N.C. environmental writer wins award

Gail Legget-Roberson, author of the "Nature in a Nutshell" column in The Wake Weekly, received the Dan Wilkinson WRAL Conservation Communication Award for her "literally down-to-earth writings and unbridled passion."

"Legget-Roberson has done an outstanding job of raising the public's environmental awareness by writing about her personal fascination and admiration for the natural award," WRAL Meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner said while presenting the award.

"In every story, Gail weaves in the golden thread of conservation, encouraging all of us to get outside to marvel and care for the wondrous, life-sustaining planet we call home."

"I try so hard to pass along the beauty and majesty of nature through my written interwoven experiences gained while exploring and studying the fields and meadows, woods and swamps of North Carolina and all that grows and lives there," Legget-Roberson said in a speech read on her behalf by Sheila Jones, an environmental educator.

The award is named in honor of Dan Wilkinson, who reported on eastern North Carolina farms for 10 years on WRAL News. He passed away unexpectedly in October 2003.

Legget-Roberson said that this award means more to her than most.

"I am hanging it in my office today," she said. "I don't display many of them, as I am not into gathering them, as much as making a difference by what I do. But this one, in particular, means more to you than I can ever say."

Legget-Roberson never plans to give up on her career as an environmental writer, her "given assignment for my allotted time here," she said in her speech.

"The sacred circle of life is about to collapse. We must not allow this to happen, and environmental communication is the means of prevention," she said.