PORT ANGELES — The North Olympic Land Trust has awarded the 2018 Out Standing in the Field Award to the Clallam Conservation District for its nearly six decades devoted to community and environmental health and sustainability.
“We are in awe of the accomplishments the Conservation District has achieved and the positive impacts it has had within Clallam County,” said Tom Sanford, North Olympic Land Trust executive director.
“The dedication and work of partners like the Conservation District are instrumental to successful conservation and stewardship of the natural resources of the North Olympic Peninsula for today and future generations.”
The community is invited to join the land trust team in honoring the Clallam Conservation District at the 10th Annual Conservation Breakfast at 9 a.m. Friday at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Guest speaker Monica Dixon will explore the connections between community health and land conservation. Dixon is a national speaker, consultant, internationally published author, and a founder of the Olympic Peninsula Healthy Community Coalition.
“Clallam County would be a very different place without the ongoing efforts of the Clallam Conservation District,” said Alana Linderoth, the land trust’s community engagement specialist, in a news release, saying that for the last 59 years, the agency has has been working within communities across Clallam County to help landowners conserve resources.
What was once a maze of open irrigation ditches crisscrossed throughout the Sequim-Dungeness Valley is now mostly piped, thanks to the Conservation District’s work with the local irrigation districts and companies, Linderoth said.
Piping the majority of the irrigation ditches has had multiple benefits for local water quality and conservation.
“I think going back about 20 years, the irrigators have reduced their annual diversions from the [Dungeness] River by about 50 percent,” said Joe Holtrop, Clallam Conservation District executive director.
“Also, piping in areas where we have enough pressure means people don’t have to use pumps anymore, which reduces energy consumption.”
The Conservation District’s dedication to piping irrigation ditches, as well as implementing best farm management practices and repairing failing septic systems have helped to reduce non-point pollution and thus limit the amount of pollution flowing into important water bodies, Linderoth said.
In 2015, the Conservation District was among the partners recognized by Puget Sound Partnership for its role in the water quality upgrade in Dungeness Bay. The Conservation District continues to focus on water quality through a collaborative program known as the Pollution Identification and Correction (PIC) Plan.
“PIC is a strategic way of dealing with water quality problems, especially now that all the low hanging fruit has been picked,” Holtrop said.
“We still have pollution problems, but it’s really hard to figure out why, so PIC is critical for that. And, one of the beautiful things about PIC is the collaboration that comes along with it.”
Via a variety of programs and onsite assistance, the Conservation District provides educational, technical and financial assistance to community members to help them achieve their land use goals in an environmentally sustainable manner, Linderoth said.
It is involved with and/or spearheads a number of programs, such as aquifer recharge, natural landscaping workshops, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), community climate resiliency, soil testing, farm conservation plan development, and collaborative work to implement an off-channel reservoir intended to maintain healthy flows in the Dungeness River.
The Conservation District works with urban, forest and farm landowners who want to restore and improve riparian areas along streams or wetlands.
The Clallam Conservation District is the fifth partner to be awarded the Out Standing in the Field Award.
Past recipients include the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Jefferson Land Trust, Dick Goin (posthumously) and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and its Natural Resources Department.
To RSVP for the breakfast, visit https://northolympiclandtrust.org/ or call 360-417-1815.
For more information about the Clallam Conservation District, see http://clallamcd.org/or call 360-775-3747.
For more information about the land trust — which is devoted to conservation of open spaces, local food, local resources, healthy watersheds and recreational opportunities — see https://northolympiclandtrust.org/.
