Channel 2 WSB-TV and The Trust for Public Land Announce Finalists for Atlanta's 2014 Cox Conserves Heroes Program

Public asked to vote; $15,000 going to environmental nonprofits

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Oct 06, 2014, 08:00 ET

ATLANTA, Oct. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Channel 2 WSB-TV and The Trust for Public Land today announced Joy Carter, Barry Henson and Bob Scott as finalists for Atlanta's 2014 Cox Conserves Heroes program. Voting is open to the general public through Nov. 3 at www.wsbtv.com/coxconservesheroes.

The program recognizes volunteers who are creating or preserving outdoor spaces. A judging panel of civic and environmental leaders selected the three finalists. The winner will receive $10,000 to donate to his or her selected nonprofit beneficiary, and the finalists each will receive $2,500 for their nonprofits of choice.

Joy Carter helps protect and preserve Southeast Atlanta's Constitution Lakes Park. Her volunteer workdays make the 125-acre park safer and cleaner. She also volunteers for the Atlanta Audubon Society and coordinates the annual Christmas Bird Count, providing critical data for local bird conservation programs. Thanks to her work, Constitution Lakes Park is a haven for hikers and bird watchers. Her nonprofit of choice is Atlanta Audubon Society.

Barry Henson works tirelessly to preserve the Dicks Creek and Noontootla Creek areas in North Georgia. After hearing that the sites were in danger of being closed, he organized a group of volunteers to remove thousands of pounds of litter, treat infected hemlock trees and maintain several adopt-a-stream sites. Thanks to Henson, visitors can continue to enjoy nature's beauty. His nonprofit of choice is Go Outdoors USA.

Bob Scott put his lawnmower to use to create and maintain a new trail leading people to Peachtree Creek. He is building an urban refuge in the heart of metro Atlanta and sharing trail maps with neighbors to encourage outdoor activity. He brought neighbors together through a Georgia Conservancy Greenspace Visioning program, and they now have a shared goal to connect the BeltLine and Emory through five miles of walking trails. His nonprofit of choice is the South Fork Conservancy.

Through the Cox Conserves Heroes program, nearly $475,000 has been donated to environmental nonprofits and more than 130 volunteers have been recognized.

The Cox Conserves Heroes program was created through a partnership between The Trust for Public Land and Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Channel 2 WSB-TV, to honor local conservation volunteers. Cox Conserves Heroes takes place in Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson); California (Orange County, San Diego and Santa Barbara); Georgia (Atlanta); Louisiana (Acadiana, Baton Rouge and New Orleans); Virginia (Fairfax County/Fredericksburg, Hampton Roads and Roanoke) and Washington (Seattle).

For more information, visit CoxConservesHeroes.com or Facebook.

Social Media: #CoxConservesHeroes and #CoxConservesHero

About Channel 2 WSB-TV
The ABC Affiliate is part of Cox Media Group and ranks as Atlanta's number one local television station. The station also operates its website, wsbtv.com, its mobile site, wap.wsbtv.com, and airs MeTV on its digital channel 2.2.

Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of CoxReps. Additionally, CMG owns Cox Target Media, which operates Valpak, one of North America's leading direct marketing companies, and Savings.com, a leading online source for savings. The company's operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 57 radio stations, eight daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services. CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 30 million TV viewers, more than 3.5 million print and online newspaper readers, and more than 14 million radio listeners.

About The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Nearly ten million people live within a ten-minute walk of a Trust for Public Land park, garden, or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year. Learn more at tpl.org.

About Cox Conserves
Launched in 2007 by Chairman Jim Kennedy, Cox Conserves is Cox Enterprises' national sustainability program. Cox Conserves focuses on reducing waste and energy consumption, as well as conserving water. The program engages each of the company's major subsidiaries (Cox Communications, Cox Media Group and Cox Automotive) and encourages Cox Enterprises' 50,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices.

The company's sustainability goals are to send zero waste to landfill in the next 7-10 years and become carbon and water neutral in the next 25-30 years.

SOURCE Cox Enterprises