BCAS Lifetime Achievement Award to Ruth Carol and Glenn Cushman
Written and Presented by Stephen Jones
On September 22, 2026 Boulder County Audubon Society presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Ruth Carol and Glenn Cushman for a lifetime of advocacy on behalf of the natural world through writing, photography, and action.
Forty years ago, I decided I’d like to do a photographic book celebrating the shortgrass prairie region, one of the last quiet and semi-natural landscapes remaining within a few hours’ drive of Boulder. But I had never tried to write a book before, and I felt totally inadequate.
Then I thought of Ruth Carol Cushman, whose nature articles in the Boulder Daily Camera and regional magazines were always fascinating and artfully written. I also knew that Ruth Carol worked as a reference librarian at Norlin Library and was active in Boulder County Audubon. What better partner to help create a tribute to one of our iconic western landscapes?
What I didn’t fully know at the time was that Ruth Carol came with her lifetime partner, Glenn Cushman, whose superb editing, photographs, and painfully bad puns enriched and enlivened everything she wrote. As Ruth Carol told me later, “Glenn has always encouraged me to do things I thought I wasn’t capable of doing, from climbing a difficult mountain to writing a book.” While working full-time as an optical engineer at Ball Aerospace, Glenn devoted much of his free time to camping, photographing nature, and walking in the woods with Carol.
Their partnership has produced hundreds of popular articles and columns about nature, along with Boulder Hiking Trails, now in its 5th edition. This unique guidebook is more about nature appreciation than recreation, and when users visit each special place described, they begin to become advocates for its conservation. And Ruth Carol hasn’t hesitated to speak out publicly on behalf of preserving many of these areas.
With Glenn’s constant assistance, Ruth Carol collaborated with me and others on four more books: Boulder County Nature Almanac, Colorado Nature Almanac, Wild Boulder County, and Peterson Field Guide to the North American Prairie. She and Glenn have helped Boulder County Audubon and Boulder County Nature Association complete numerous field projects, including the Coal Creek Riparian Renaissance, our small owl and raptor studies, and various bird counts. Back in the 1960s Ruth Carol was active in Plan Boulder and lobbied for taxation to support the Open Space program.
Ruth Carol and Glenn are among the most generous and open-minded friends I’ve ever had, and their positive advocacy on behalf of the natural world has made Boulder County a better place for all of us and its wild inhabitants. We are deeply honored tonight to present them with this Boulder County Audubon lifetime achievement award.
Glenn and Ruth Carol Cushman presented Lifetime Achievement Award by BCAS President Scott Severs.
You can read more of Ruth Carol’s work and see many of Glenn’s photos in the monthly Nature Almanac series, published on the BCAS website, where she is an author and co-author of many articles.