Gold: The late Ellen Straus, organic dairy farmer and co-founder of America’s first agricultural land trust, for her life commitment to social activism—and to her cows. Straus settled in Marin County, Calif. in 1950. Inspired by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring she became a fierce and passionate proponent of environmental stewardship. Straus served on over 20 boards relating to land use, farming, politics and the environment, but her foundation of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust is probably her greatest legacy. In 1994 the Straus Dairy became the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi and still operates with 270 milking cows. Sadly, Ellen Straus passed away in November 2002.