ForeverGreen Annual Awards Luncheon 2025

Upstate Forever’s ForeverGreen Annual Awards Luncheon celebrates individuals and organizations for significant contributions in fields related to conservation and sustainable growth.

2025 honorees

This year's honorees were three passionate individuals who have made an indelible impact on the region's natural resources:

CLEAN WATER CHAMPION
Melanie Ruhlman, President of Save Our Saluda, for her tireless efforts to protect rivers and streams in the Saluda River Basin and across the state of South Carolina

PUBLIC SERVANT OF THE YEAR
Representative Patrick Haddon, for his visionary leadership role in the Working Lands Preservation Act, which makes land conservation more accessible for South Carolina’s farmers

TOMMY WYCHE LAND CONSERVATION CHAMPION
Honorable Ted Shehan, for his decades-long commitment to public service and volunteer efforts to expand awareness of natural resource conservation initiatives

guest speaker

We were honored to welcome Greenville's inaugural Poet Laureate, Glenis Redmond, who read a selection from The Song of Everything, a collection of poems published in 2024 that documents the poet’s experiences in South Carolina State Parks. Glenis is a Baldwin Fellow 2024-2025 and a Poet Laureate Fellow 2023 as selected by the American Academy of Poets. She was chosen to be a Citizen Diplomat with the Jonathan Green Maritime Cultural Center.

view luncheon photos

Re-live the celebration by flipping through our 2025 ForeverGreen photo album. View the photos on Flickr

View the digital program

In lieu of printed programs and in an effort to conserve natural resources, the event program containing the agenda, award recipient information, and more is now available in a digital format. Download the PDF