Ilia J. (nee Leonard) Fehrer

Born: 1927

Died: 2007

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

Towson College 1948

Field of Study: Environmentalist

Institution/Corporation: Maryland Coastal Bay Program; Assateague Coastal Trust; Nature Conservancy; Nassawango Stewardship Committee

Degrees & Memberships: Member: Committee to Preserve Assateague (now the Assateague Coastal Trust); The Nature Conservatory (1974); Nassawango Stewardship Committee; Maryland Environmental Trust; the Barrier Island Coalition; the Ocean Coastal and Pocomoke River Basin Advisory Council; the Maryland Coastal and Watershed Resources Advisory Committee; Worcester County Planning Commission; Snow Hill Planning Commission; Pocomoke State Forest Advisory Board; the Delmarva Advisory Council; the State Water Quality Advisory Board; the Coastal Bays Citizens Advisory Committee;

Awards: 2009 Maryland Women's Hall of Fame; 1987 Feinstone Environmental Award, SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry (with Husband Joe); 2003 Osprey Award (with husband Joe); 2003 Ellen Fraites Wagner Award, Chesapeake Bay Trust; Worcester County Women's Hall of Fame

Achievements: helped establish the Maryland Coastal Bays Program & member of the Assateague Coastal Trust; fought to protect wildlife & against air & water pollution; founded the Worcester Environmental Trust with her husband Joseph W. Fehrer; she and her husband worked on various other environmental projects, including starting the process of creating a water-monitoring program; prevented the building of a harmful dam on Nassawango Creek in the 1980s, and protected the surrounding forest which spanned 10,000 acres; actively fought against offshore waste incarceration and worked to provide her community with clean water; founded The Maryland Coastal Bays Program; co-founder, with her husband, of the Worcester Environmental Trust; with her husband, Joe, canoed the Pocomoke, inventorying the river's environmental and wildlife assets; in the 1980s spearheaded the effort to establish a water quality-monitoring program, prevented the damming of Nassawango Creek and convinced the Nature Conservancy to preserve the creek and upland forest that has grown to 10,000 acres and founded the Nassawango Creek Stewardship Committee that oversees the protection of this area;