Mrs. Christine Nornabell
1913 - 2007

Mrs. Christine Nornabell was the first women to receive the Conservation Pioneer Award, presented by Conservation Ontario, in 1999. Mrs. Nornabell is remembered as a visionary whose lifelong dedication to conservation has had a profound influence in the
Otonabee Region watershed community and beyond.

In 1953 she organized the first public meeting in Peterborough seeking to beautify and preserve the banks of the Otonabee River and Jackson Creek that had long been abused through industrial use. She was appointed to the City of Peterborough’s first Parks Board in 1959. During that time, the group had also started investigating the Conservation Authorities program, which they learned was designed to address environmental issues
on a watershed basis.

On July 9, 1959, Dr. A.H. Richardson of the Conservation Authorities Branch in Toronto chaired the inaugural meeting of the Otonabee Valley Conservation Authority. Mrs. Nornabell was elected Chair, an office she held until 1971. Many of those early Board of Directors meetings were held in the library of her Peterborough County home. Mrs. Nornabell continued to serve on the Authority Board as a Provincial Appointee until 1982. She chaired the Authority’s Historic Sites Advisory Board from 1971 to 1981.

In 1961, Mrs. Nornabell was elected to the Executive of the Committee of Conservation Authority Chairmen, and served in this capacity until 1971. In 1964, Mrs. Nornabell was appointed Eastern Ontario’s representative to the Conservation Authority Council. In 1968, she chaired the Biennial Conference of the 38 Conservation Authorities.

In 1968 Mrs. Nornabell organized the formation of the Otonabee Region Conservation Foundation, which she chaired from 1972 to 1986 and was an active member of the Board until 1992. The Otonabee Region Conservation Foundation continues today supporting conservation through fund-raising and community involvement. In 1998, the Foundation established the Nornabell Conservation Trust to support conservation education for youth and the acquisition of environmentally significant lands in the watershed community.

Mrs. Nornabell was instrumental in the acquisition and preservation of close to 10,000 acres of environmentally significant lands in the Otonabee region watershed between 1962 and 1989. The lands are held in public trust by
the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority.

The late Mr. Charles Sauriol, of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, credits the success of the Conservancy's land acquisition program to the matching grants formula conceived by Mrs. Nornabell. In his book, Green Footsteps, Mr. Sauriol names Christine Nornabell the "Lady of the Hour", recalling that memorable day in 1968 when she first suggested the matching grants formula as a means to securing significant sections of the world renowned Cavan Swamp.

"Christine had discovered the formula, the modus operandi, the open sesame, the approach which was to shape the Conservancy's future and my own. How utterly simple. That meeting was perhaps the most important single meeting of my 21 years with the Conservancy." - Charles Sauriol.

Mrs. Christine Nornabell was very involved in community affairs and received several awards of distinction, including the Julian Crandall Award, Conservation Pioneer Award, Peter Robinson Award and the Order of Canada.

Mrs. Christine Nornabell passed away January 21, 2007 in her 95th year.