Roberta Salazar's grandparents taught her to love and respect the Earth. During the Albuquerque native's summers, she would visit her grandparents — Adelaida and Demetrio Montoya — on their small plot of land in Northern New Mexico and saw that they grew much of their own food and lived a sustainable life.

"I feel very blessed to have had them, and I'm very grateful to the Earth and to my ancestors," Salazar said as she took a break from a busy Tuesday at her Arroyo Seco office. "I want to give back in that way."

In 1999, Salazar founded Rivers & Birds, a nonprofit environmental education program that has reached more than 3,000 Northern New Mexico children.

Salazar founded the organization "with the dream to help people realize our interconnection to this beautiful Mother Earth," she said. "The vision was to create a nature immersion program for schoolchildren where they could meet people who were passionate about the Earth out in the field and learn in a passionate setting."

Rivers & Birds' outstanding work with children earned the organization a 2009 Piñon Award — the John J. Kenny Award for Environment — from the Santa Fe Community Foundation, said president Billie Blair.

Rivers & Birds works with Northern New Mexico children who attend public school. The organization takes them on various field trips every fall and every spring to learn something different about the environment.

"We focus on public schools because we feel like those children are the kids who often don't have the chance to have experiential nature learning experiences," Salazar said. "Our strategy is to reach students at multiple points in their school career so that we'll have the most impact with them in the long run."

Children have studied everything from how to do stream water quality monitoring to learning from mayordomos how to harvest crops. Rivers & Birds has also teamed up with archaeologists, sewage-plant managers and ecologists to provide detailed lessons to the children.

"When you love something, you'll take care of it," Salazar said. "By making learning joyful, kids have fun learning out on the Earth and they have a really positive experience. They'll remember that and want to be doing the right thing for the Earth in the future."

Of Rivers & Birds, Blair said, "They just do phenomenal work in the environment with kids at a very grass-roots level. They teach children how to walk gently on the Earth and really introduce children to their heritage."

The other Piñon Award recipients include Cooking with Kids, which won the Manuel Lujan Sr. Award for Education; St. Elizabeth Shelter, which won the Dr. Brian Moynahan Award for Health and Human Services; Santa Fe Business Incubator, which won the John Gaw Meem Award for Civic Affairs; and the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, which won the Geronima Cruz Montoya Award for Arts and Humanities.

Blair invites the public to attend the free awards presentation today at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.

"People who don't come are really missing out on a great opportunity to celebrate with their neighbors in Santa Fe," Blair said. "It's a really good one-hour chance to see a video tribute of the work of the organizations and to get entertained and celebrate what's right in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico — and it's been called the Academy Awards for the nonprofits."

Salazar said that she's happy about the recognition.

"We were delighted," Salazar said. "It was a surprise and we were delighted to hear that somebody recognized our work outside of Taos."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.

If you go

What: The 2009 Piñon Awards

When: 6 p.m. today

Where: Lensic Performing Arts Center

Cost: Free