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Steamboat Springs — A lively crowd packed the Depot Art Center on Saturday night for a celebration honoring contributors to community and environmental sustainability in the Yampa Valley.

"It went really, really well," organizer Maggie Berglund said about the first annual "New Pioneers" event, sponsored by the Community Alliance of the Yampa Valley. "We had more than 140 people there."

The large audience enjoyed a dinner of natural beef and local greens, bread made from wheat in Hayden, and apple crisp made with Grand Junction apples, Berglund said.

The Community Alliance awarded winners in six categories.

Comunidad Integrada won the Community Stewardship category, for its work in helping Spanish-speaking residents assimilate into the Routt County community. Communidad Inte-

grada received a set of old-fashioned keys with tags that will be inscribed with the New Pioneer's name every year, Berglund said. Yampa Valley Partners and the Tread of Pioneers Museum were also nominated in the category.

Routt County Woolens won the Business Award, for its efforts to keep families in the ranching business by producing "value-added" products. Routt County Woolens received an inscribed wooden plaque. Little Moon Essentials, Healthy Solutions, and Greener Pastures Ranch were also nominated.

Straw-bale homebuilder Jan Cohen won the Green Building category. He received an inscribed plaque made of natural materials. Pete and Dana Stimmel and Susan Holland also were nominated.

Craig and Moe Schifter, who installed a photovoltaic energy system into the electric grid, won the Resource Conservation category. Fred Robinson and his company, Intergalactic Hydrogen, was nominated along with Yampa Valley Recycles.

Commodity grain-grower and conservationist Mike Williams won the Land Stewardship award, for which he received a decorated, inscribed pitchfork. The Herold family and the original members of the Elk River Compact also were nominated.

Matthew Holthausen won the Youth category for converting a Ford Ranger pickup into an electric vehicle.