On Sunday, April 23, the City of Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission (EPC) and Alexandria Renew Enterprises (AlexRenew), the independent public wastewater treatment authority serving Alexandria, presented the 2023 Ellen Pickering Environmental Excellence Award to Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail (FOTMVT), an Alexandria-based volunteer organization dedicated to the ongoing maintenance and improvement of the Mount Vernon Trail. Read more about the 2023 Ellen Pickering Environmental Excellence Award recipient.

The nomination window for the 2024 Ellen Pickering Environmental Excellence Award will open in early 2024. 

The award is named in honor of Ellen Pickering's lifelong dedication to preservation and conservation in the City of Alexandria. Mrs. Pickering was a longtime City activist who first gained recognition for her lobbying efforts more than 40 years ago that ultimately helped create the Mount Vernon Trail between Alexandria and Washington, DC.

An active preservationist and conservationist, she was deeply committed to preserving and enhancing the City's waterfront. She urged the adoption of the City's Open Space Plan, lobbied to preserve Founder's Park and protect it from high-rise development, and implemented the planting of 1,000 citizen-donated cherry trees during her tenure as chair of the Alexandria Beautification Commission.

Mrs. Pickering was elected to City Council as an independent, serving for one term between 1976 and 1979. She also served on numerous City boards and commissions, including the Alexandria Beautification Commission, the Alexandria Sanitation Authority, the Ad Hoc Committee on Potomac Yard, the Potomac Greens Task Force, and the Open Space Steering Committee. She also chaired the Northern Virginia Conservation Council for many years. She won two Salute to Women Awards from the City's Commission on Women. She was also an active member of the League of Women Voters and the Alexandria chapter of the American Association of University Women.

• 2023 - The Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail
• 2022 - Jack Sullivan
• 2019 - Kurt Moser
• 2018 - Judy Noritake
• 2017 - Katharine Dixon 
• 2016 - St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School 
• 2015 - Pete Raack
• 2014 - UpCycle Creative Reuse Center
• 2013 - Danielle Fidler 
• 2012 - Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee 
• 2011 - Samantha Ahdoot 
• 2010 - Montie Kust 
• 2009 - Elizabeth Chimento and Poul Hertel