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n December, UGA Extension Agent, Ashley Hoppers, received the Community Beautification Award from the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation at the 2019 Awards Luncheon at the Marriot Century Center in Atlanta. The Community Beautification award recognizes efforts to improve, beautify and preserve the quality of life in a community.
The annual awards ceremony recognizes outstanding efforts in the areas of litter prevention, waste reduction and recycling, community beautification and overall community improvement. The program also honors Georgia’s Keep America Beautiful affiliates for their comprehensive environmental impact on local communities. Since its founding in 1978, the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation’s network of affiliates has grown to encompass over 70 local programs serving 80 percent of the state’s population.
Hoppers was honored with the award based off of the work she did in her previous position as the Agriculture and Natural Resource Extension Agent in Liberty County, Georgia. Highlights of her work include efforts to create teaching and demonstration gardens at school and community gardens, restoration and maintenance of community green spaces, Arbor Day tree planting events and coordinating the community’s first Georgia Master Naturalist Program.
Much of the environmental education and outreach initiatives Hoppers spearheaded in Liberty County involved conservation and environmental stewardship. To encourage pollinator conservation in Liberty County, Hoppers organized education and outreach activities highlighting the reasons behind pollinator decline and what citizens could do to help bolster populations.
Additionally, Hoppers worked with school teachers, homeowners and leadership for community gardens and parks through site visits and at one-on-one consultations. During those visits, Hoppers provided site-specific feedback on how to adapt each landscape to promote pollinator health. In-school programming was also held to illustrate to youth why they should care about pollinators, and what they could do in their own backyards to help.
Hands-on pollinator garden workdays were also hosted with local Keep Georgia Beautiful Affiliate, Keep Liberty County Beautiful, at their teaching and demonstration garden. Through these events, Hoppers said “stakeholders were able to more confidently recognize beneficial pollinators, recall the key factors contributing to their decline, and make informed landscape management decisions with pollinators in mind.”
When reflecting on the past year’s work, Hoppers was quick to say that “No one does anything alone. Only though harnessing the power of the community and working towards a common goal, were these successes made possible. Environmental issues impact us all, so generally with these types of projects there are others in the community that are working towards the same outcomes. Those partnerships tend to form naturally and lead to strong community impact.”
In September, 2019, Hoppers transferred from Liberty County to serve as the UGA Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent in Gilmer and Fannin Counties. As her title implies, Hoppers’ position is geared towards providing educational opportunities in production agriculture, horticulture and natural resources.
Ashley said she is excited to start another great year working in Gilmer and Fannin Counties.