As the nation celebrates Earth Day, a spotlight is shone on the work of Boone County native Maria Gunnoe, one of seven 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize recipients.

The Goldman Prize is a prestigious award given to grassroots environmental heroes from around the world and the first Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony, timed to coincide with Earth Day, took place on April 16, 1990, the Goldman Environmental Foundation says.

Maria Gunnoe, 40, is a mother and community organizer who grew up on her family’s homestead in the southern coalfields of Boone County at the mouth of Big Branch, near Bob White.

There, embraced by the mountains of the Appalachia, her family’s roots in the region date back to the early 1800s. Today, the area where her Cherokee grandfather purchased land in the late 1950s is considered part of one of the most active mountaintop removal regions in the United States.

In 2000, a 1,200-acre mountaintop removal mine began blasting and dumping on the ridge above Gunnoe’s homestead. Today, her house sits below a 10-story valley fill.

Gunnoe is no stranger to the laborious work of the coal miner, as she comes from a long line of coal miners. It was these same family members who instilled in her a deep connection to the forest and streams, where she grew up fishing, hunting and gathering medicinal plants.

“This traditional rural culture is threatened by the invasive mining practices that now dominate the region,” The Goldman Environmental Foundation says.

Then, in 2004, a flood destroyed her home and covered her yard with coal slurry – causing such damage to her property and well that her family was forced to use bottled water for cooking and drinking. According to Gunnoe, the coal company told her the damage was an “act of God.”

This event promoted the former waitress and medical technician, to work as an activist in Boone County. She began to volunteer with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) to organize community meetings and disperse information about the coal mining practices to neighbors and her community.

"In the heart of Appalachia, where the coal industry wields enormous power over government and public opinion, lifelong resident Maria Gunnoe fights against environmentally devastating mountaintop removal mining and valley fill operations," the Goldman Prize said in a prepared statement.

It was Gunnoe’s testimony in federal court that eventually helped win an injunction against Magnum Coal Company, who later closed their entire mining complex.

Considered by some in the southern coalfields as the “bread and butter” of the region, mountaintop removal coal mining in Central Appalachia has destroyed an estimated 470 mountains and has buried or polluted 2,000 miles of rivers and streams.

Gunnoe has recently taken serious measures to protect both her family and property from threats she says comes from many reasons, the main reason being that she has been successful in organizing community members to fight the activities of coal companies.

Gunnoe joins Raleigh County resident Judy Bonds in receiving the Goldman Environmental Prize, which carries with it a cash award of $150,000. Gunnoe and Bonds are two of three West Virginia to have received the Goldman Environmental Prize since it began 20 years ago.

Termed the “Green Pulitzer Prize,” the award is coveted by many as a prestigious award for grassroots environmental work.

This year's winners also include a West African activist working to save a national park, a Russian scientist working to identify and safely remove toxic chemical stockpiles, and an Indonesian woman developing community-based waste management systems.

Every year prize winners are presented with a trophy at an invitation-only celebration to recognize their achievements. This year, the seven prize winners were joined by former Vice President of the United States Al Gore, actor Robert Redford and journalist Christiane Amanpour in San Francisco.

They will also be awarded at a smaller event today in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with Earth Day.