(INDIANAPOLIS) – The Nature Conservancy (TNC) honored Senator Mike Braun with its “Conservation Leadership” award on Tuesday, April 21. Conservancy staff and trustees presented the award to Sen. Braun via a virtual meeting.
TNC gives the awards to just a handful of champions throughout the nation annually. This year, only nine awards were presented.
“We honor Senator Mike Braun for his long-standing conservation practices on the forest and agricultural land he owns, for his cooperative interaction with TNC and for his decision to co-found the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus,” said Will Ditzler, chair of TNC’s Indiana Chapter board of trustees. “We appreciate his pragmatic, solutions-oriented approach and we’re eager to continue working with him on conservation generally and climate action specifically.”
In 2019, Sen. Braun reached across the aisle to team up with Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, to introduce the first-ever bipartisan caucus dedicated to climate solutions in the Senate. TNC also presented a Leadership Award to Coons.
“This is quite an honor,” said Senator Braun, “especially when it’s for doing something you like so much. I have had an interest in protecting the environment ever since I was a boy, and I’m anxious to get back to work on the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus.”
Braun added that the Caucus now has 14 members, representing both parties.
Before becoming an Indiana senator, Braun had long worked with TNC Indiana staff on managing his agriculture and forest land holdings in the state.
“We’re thrilled that Senator Braun has taken a leadership role in the fight against climate change,” says Larry Clemens, state director for TNC’s Indiana Chapter. “We’re honored to work with him to shape bipartisan and responsible policy to benefit Hoosiers and people all over the world.”
TNC’s Indiana Chapter is currently in a three-year project funded by the MacArthur Foundation to understand climate change in Indiana and how best to mitigate its effects.
