On Oct. 13, 2013, the River Alliance of Wisconsin will honor Rhinelander local Bob Martini with nine other advocates who have shown exemplary leadership for the conservation of Wisconsin’s flowing waters.

Bob Martini is from Rhinelander and is retired from the Department of Natural Resources. In 1993, Martini was the DNR’s Task Force Leader for the Wisconsin River, and he saw a need for an organization to represent the public’s interest in the river, and thus began his relationship with the newly founded River Alliance. Since then, Bob has partnered with the River Alliance in many ways and is currently the organization’s Vice Chair of the Board.

“I have ‘lived’ river protection for 40 years,” Martini said. “I like the people, the organization is effective, and the threats to river health are greater now because anti-conservation forces now control the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Senate, the Assembly, the Governor and the DNR. The River Alliances needs to be truly great for the next few years.”

Martini will receive River Alliance’s 20th Anniversary “Steady Currents” Award. The other honorees are Todd Ambs, Steve Born, Lynn Broaddus, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Scott Froehlke, Inter-Fluve, Barb Kneer, John Roberts and Wisconsin Trout Unlimited.

The awards ceremony for the 10 honorees will be part of the River Alliance’s 20th Anniversary River Bash, a celebration of 20 years of river advocacy with a look to the next 20 years of saving rivers in Wisconsin. The event will take place at the Wisconsin Riverside Resort in Spring Green from 3 to 6 p.m., and will feature appetizers, cash bar and live music from the Whiskey Farm. Tickets are $50, children under 12 are free.

Each honoree will be recognized at the event and will receive a 20th Anniversary River Alliance Paddle donated by Bending Branches.

For more information about the party, or any other River Alliance event or activity, contact Sharon White at 608-257-2424 ext. 116.