The James D. Loebl Award
This James D. Loebl award recognizes an organization that has acted with distinguished and lasting effect in the spirit of the Ojai Valley Defense Fund’s mission statement, to “protect and sustain the environmental quality of the Ojai Valley for the public benefit.” The award may be given for a single action or on the basis of a composite record of accomplishment. Its first recipients were individual community members but, beginning in 2024, the board voted to recognize organizations as part of the Defense Fund’s commitment to supporting a vibrant community of mission-aligned organizations. By honoring efforts that are aligned with our mission, we aim to encourage collaboration and goodwill among mission-aligned organizations in our community, and deter outside threats by showcasing a community that is well organized and committed to protecting its environmental assets.
Although nominees will be considered on an annual basis, the award is granted only when a recipient’s contributions have met the high bar of the award’s charter. As an indication of how high that bar is, this award has been granted only four times since its creation in 2011.
2025 - Ojai Raptor Center
The 2025 James D. Loebl award was presented to the Ojai Raptor Center in recognition of its 25-year record of caring for and protecting wildlife. Accepting the award on behalf of the Raptor Center was its founder and executive director, Kim Stroud. “As we mark our 25th anniversary, this recognition holds a very special meaning. We work toward this mission each day through the care of injured and orphaned wildlife and through education that fosters respect and responsibility for the natural world.” Over the past 25 years, the Ojai Raptor Center has cared for more than 28,000 wild animals, rehabilitated an average of 1,100 raptors each year, and built the largest flight enclosure in Central and Southern California.
2024 - Ojai Trees
The 2024 James D. Loebl award was presented an organization that has been quietly helping Ojai people plant and care for our arboreal neighbors since 2008. Thousands of trees later, Ojai is a shadier, leafier, more biodiverse, and better oxygenated place than it would have been otherwise. In accepting the award, Ojai Trees president Garret Clifford reminded those in attendance that, “Ojai Trees has no employees, we are all volunteers. Our goal has been to plant 100 trees a year. To date we have planted over 2,000 trees. We offer trees for a donation of less than their retail price, we help you select the right tree for the right spot and plant it for you. If you want to do something tangible to help the environment, join us.” As a token of community gratitude for all Ojai Trees has done, members of the OVDF board gathered with their counterparts from Ojai Trees to plant a young oak in Libbey Park.
2021 - Steve Bennett
In 2020, Steve Bennett was elected to the California State Assembly, representing District 27, which includes the Ojai Valley. For the prior 20 years, he represented the valley on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. He earned this award by the sheer volume of his accomplishments on behalf of the valley, as well as his record of thwarting projects that would be out of character with Ojai’s history and well-being. Among these achievements, his crucial role in creating the Ventura River Preserve, the largest open space preserve in the valley; the SOAR (Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources) initiative; and the county’s recent general plan update, with its air quality and other environmental protections.
2021 - Johnny Johnston
As Ojai’s City Manager during the early 1970s, Johnston worked with Jim Loebl to halt the state’s plan to build freeways throughout the Ojai Valley. Johnston played a major part at that time in discouraging urban sprawl by revitalizing downtown Ojai. In 2016, Johnston began the first of two terms as Ojai’s mayor, where he put into practice his philosophy of respecting the past but preparing for the future. He protected Ojai’s air quality against degradation as Ventura County updated its general plan. In order to position the city for the decades ahead, he also initiated an update of the Ojai general plan. Johnston spearheaded multiple initiatives committing the city to clean electric power.
2018 - John Broesamle
During his more than three decades as a resident of the Ojai Valley, John did as much as anyone to enhance the environmental well-being of the place we call “home.” He was president of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy from 1998-2000, thereafter remaining active with the organization on its land committee. It was during John’s active involvement with the organization that it made many of its acquisitions, including the Ilvento Preserve, Cluff Vista Park, the Ojai Meadows Preserve, and the Ventura River Preserve. Among a list of community accolades too long to exhaust here, he was named Ojai Citizen of the Year in 1999, an Ojai Living Treasure in 2001, and Best Volunteer in the Valley in 2012 and 2013. He was also the founding President of the Ojai Valley Defense Fund and a dedicated supporter and essential advisor of this organization until his death in 2023.
2011 - Patricia (Pat) Weinberger
Pat, who passed away in 2016, was recognized posthumously for being one of the most important environmental activists in the history of the Ojai Valley and Ventura County. From the 1960s to the 1990s she played a central role in turning back threats by development and resource extraction interests, and in the creation of the 3,500-acre Teague Memorial Watershed surrounding Lake Casitas.
About James D. Loebl
Jim Loebl (1927-2003) served on the Ojai City Council from 1968 through 1996 and five times as mayor. He first ran for the council because he wanted to participate in planning decisions that would impact our community. Specifically, he opposed the state’s plan for freeways through the Ojai Valley, and he wanted to avoid rampant development by outsiders that would have turned Ojai into another San Fernando Valley.
Jim energetically battled the many intrusions that were proposed over the years: shopping centers outside the city core, a phosphate mine and a uranium mine in the neighboring Los Padres National Forest, and the Weldon Canyon dump. Nevertheless, Jim did believe in progress and upgrades that would enhance Ojai. He played an active role in the relocation of City Hall to its present site, a master plan for Libbey Park, and the revitalization of the downtown through preserving the Arcade. Jim respected the resource limitations of water and air by limiting growth through land use planning. His ability to see the “big picture,” to forge consensus, and to work with city staff, other council members and the public made him a highly effective leader. It was his vision for Ojai and the valley that was most outstanding. It explains in large measure why Ojai remains the special community it is today.