About the Dorothy Burton Conservation Award
Dorothy Burton
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The Dorothy Burton Conservation Award was established in 2018 in memory of Dorothy Burton, an enthusiastic entrepreneur, successful Outfitter in Labrador, avid outdoors person and good steward of the environment and inland fishery resource, who passed away in 2012.
Dorothy & her husband Vince Burton operated numerous Lodges in Labrador (Little Bay, Eagle River, Flowers River & Igloo Lake Lodge) for over 4 decades. Dorothy was a trusted and respected voice in the family business and an early advocate for catch & release (long before it was popular). Her legacy lives in the beautiful wild creatures and places that brighten our planet. This award will be presented annually by SAEN to honour those individuals, corporations, and agencies who promote catch and release as a conservation measure or who use the practice regularly in their angling activities for the conservation or protection of salmon and trout populations within our Province. From a list of nominations, a panel of judges shall choose the person to receive the award which will be presented at the SAEN Annual Dinner and Auction in the spring of the year. |
Two Brookies by Denis Abrard
Past award recipients have received a beautiful wood carving of "Two Brookies" by well-known artist Denis Abrard and donated by the Burton Family
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Past Winners
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2024
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Robert Bishop accepting the DBCA from the Burton family (pictured from left to right: Robert Bishop, Vince Burton, Jim Burton and Rob Burton)
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Congratulations to Mr. Robert Bishop on receiving the 2024 Dorothy Burton Conservation Award!
Bob Bishop has been involved with the Salmonid Association of Eastern Newfoundland since shortly after its inception. He served on the Board since the early 80’s in various capacities and is the current sitting Past-President. Bob also served as treasurer for two years and vice-president for two years of the Salmonid Council of NL and is currently serving a term as President. In addition, Bob is currently on the Board of Directors with the Foundation for Conservation of Atlantic Salmon. Through his various roles Bob also has strong relationships with the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Through each of these roles, and in his own angling activities, Bob has been a passionate and strong advocate for catch and release as an effective management tool for our salmonid resources in the province. He has championed the cause as a matter of SAEN and SCNL policy and activities. These efforts included many engagements through the news media, debate in public forums, correspondence with government officials and interactions with funding agencies. His efforts related to the promotion of catch and release is only part of his commitment to the broader goal of conservation/ effective management of salmon and trout species. Through his various roles he has also been directly involved in many other efforts related to issues that have impacts on the resource. This includes being directly involved in attaining and effectively managing significant funds directed to conservation related projects in NL. |
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2023
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Tyrone Buckle accepting the DBCA on behalf of Mr. Chris Verbiski
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Congratulations to Mr. Chris Verbiski on receiving the 2023 Dorothy Burton Conservation Award!
Mr. Verbiski has long been a strong advocate for salmon conservation and catch and release as a conservation tool. In addition to incorporating a catch and release policy at his Labrador Lodges, he also privately funded a significant amount of work, conducted by trained DFO technicians, on the impacts of catch and release fishing at his lodges and tracking their movements after release in the river system through to the spawning grounds. Mr. Verbiski, through his companies LOOP Tackle and Atlantic Rivers Outfitting Company, has also committed significant resources to conservation groups like SAEN and SPAWN through provision of many items to help support fund raising auctions. As well, Loop also recently presented both groups with significant cheques from monies dedicated through sales of special made reels in the name of conservation. Loop has also provided 20 fly rod setups to SAEN for the purpose of offering free fly casting lessons to special interest groups, such as the Wounded Warriors Project, the Association for New Canadians and the Boy Scouts of Canada. The award was accepted on behalf of Mr. Verbiski by Tyrone Buckle, Director of Operations, Atlantic Rivers Outfitting Company |
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2022
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Don Hutchens accepting the DBCA from Vince Burton
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Congratulations to Don Hutchens on receiving the 2022 Dorothy Burton Conservation Award!
Don is a great example of a person who has dedicated a good portion of their time to responsible angling practices and the conservation and protection of our salmonid resources. Don has volunteered for over 20 years with SAEN in various capacities, including a member of the Board, the Executive and Office Manager. Don has for some time been involved in teaching fly tying to beginners and also running a rod building course for SAEN members. As early as 2004 he was writing articles on proper catch and release techniques. He also created a course on catch and release and presented it to guides and interested anglers on the west coast and elsewhere across the province. In addition, he has also served on the executive of the Salmonid Council of NL (SCNL) and also was on the Canadian Board of Directors of the Atlantic Salmon Federation during the time that he served as President of SCNL. Don is currently also writing a book on salmon fishing, which will include as an appendix a listing of the various articles he has written for publications such as the SPAWNER over the years. Don’s largest fish was caught on Pocket Pool on the Grand Codroy River. The fish informed him upon release that it went by the name of Happiness. The entire presentation and Don's acceptance speech are available online here: https://youtu.be/J2g-envmWJg |
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2020
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Kastine Coleman
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Congratulations to Kastine Coleman on receiving the 2020 Dorothy Burton Conservation Award!
Kastine is a Director with the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation and a Director with SPAWN. She is a qualified caring instructor, operator Tight Loops (tight lines), outspoken conservationist, promoter of female & children fly fishers & has facilitated many seminars on proper techniques on catch & release. Kastine is the only certified FFI Casting Instructor in Atlantic Canada & is a strong voice for catch & release. A video of Kastine's acceptance speech is here https://youtu.be/mKixMKoyzFQ |
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2019
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Ian Gall
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Congratulations to Ian Gall on receiving the 2019 Dorothy Burton Conservation Award!
Ian was born in Dundee, Scotland and emigrated to Canada in 1968.He lived in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia before coming to St. John’s in 1974. Prior to retiring he served 10 years in the British Merchant Navy and 27 years In the Canadian Coast Guard. A keen Angler , fly tier and outdoor enthusiast he is a founding member of SAEN and a continuing board member since its inception in 1979. |
