With great pleasure Action For Nature announces its 2006 International Young Eco-Hero Awards, which recognize young people 8 to 16 years old for their environmental achievements. We hope the accomplishments of these outstanding young people will inspire many others to preserve and protect the Earth upon which all life depends.

Sara Captain, 15, California, USA
Sara formed a team of teenagers who spoke individually with three hundred homeowners who have creeks and v-ditches in their backyards and educated them on the importance of keeping the waterways clear. The waters flow to a delta which is an important habitat for many marshland animals.

Michael DiMartino, 16, Florida, USA
Michael formed his own nonprofit organization called PPAW (People for the Protection of Animal Welfare) as well as spear-heading his own high school club. His goal is to protect the environment and animals. As an activist, he participates in letter writing, public protests, and beach clean-ups, and has been in the news several times.

Jamie Flatley, 16, Florida, USA
Jamie Flately is interested in frogs and heard that many are deformed and so she undertook some research to study the different types of deformity, which she documented. However, like many scientists worldwide, she is puzzled about the reason for the deformities and is worried that frogs may become extinct.

Kara Mariela Gonzalez Colon, 14, Puerto Rico, USA
Kara gave talks in her school and to the 4-H club and submitted a resolution to the senate, which became law, about the need to conserve lands for the national animal of Puerto Rico, the Oqui, which is disappearing due to habitat destruction.

Leonel Ricardo Gonzalez Colon, 8, Puerto Rico, USA
After finding a sick and lost rooster and restoring it to good health, Leonel took it to his class to talk about caring for animals. He also took it to organizations and parades to teach others to care for and protect domestic animals.

Caraline Griffith, 15, West Virginia, USA
Caraline’s goal is to better inform the public of the health risks associated with the contamination of the Ohio River Valley, and other river valleys like it, that she believes are caused by factories that release dangerous chemicals into the river. She has participated in science fairs and plans to publish her research.

Anessha Jayshankar (age 12) – India
As a survivor of the Asian Tsunami, Anessha realizes the dangers we all will face if we do not protect the environment. She talks to groups of scouts and eco tourists about how careless and irresponsible damage to the environment leads to such problems as floods, land slides, loss of species, reduction of food sources, and loss of beauty.

Lauren Ledin, 16, Wisconsin, USA
Using a flat piece of grassland behind her school, Lauren transformed it into a beautiful garden full of a variety of flowers, structures and insects to be enjoyed by her school and community for years to come. She raised the money for the project over a three year period.

Anthony Mell, 14, Pennsylvania, USA
Anthony created a simple biogas digester to produce and collect gas from manure to demonstrate to local landfill managers and farmers that such a gas could be used to create electricity, as well as fuel for cooking, heating homes, and much more. He believes the large scale reclamation of potentially useful fuels needs to receive much more attention.

Ashton Throne, 15, Kentucky, USA
Ashton helps to capture injured wild birds of prey (raptors, such as turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks) and takes them to a vet at a conservation club. She has learned a lot about raptors, particularly owls, and has earned a key to the cages so that she can help with feeding, cleaning and caring for the birds, which are released, if possible, or retained for educational purposes.

Heather Wilder, 12, Nevada, USA
For the last 8 months, Heather has walked around her block re-sorting the trash and educating her neighbors. People give her some “funny looks,” but when they understand, they say “Thanks