PORT TOWNSEND — Nominations for the Port Townsend Marine Science Center 2009 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award are due by 5 p.m. Aug. 31.
The award recognizes North Olympic Peninsula residents who have been leaders in the protection and stewardship of the environment.
Winners and runners-up will be honored at the center’s Stewardship Breakfast at the Fort Worden Commons at 8 a.m. Oct. 1.
The award, created in 2005, recognizes Stopps, 89, of Mats Mats for her successful effort to have Protection Island established as a federal wildlife refuge in 1982.
Stopps’ work
“In the 1960s and 1970s, she recognized the need to protect the uniquely important marine environment of the Salish Sea,” the center said in a prepared statement.
“With no special political base or powerful financial backers, she testified before the Washington State Legislature and the United States Congress, instrumental in getting legislation and public support for protection of the area. She was responsible for the establishment of the Protection Island Sanctuary, which was the only refuge created during the Reagan administration.”
The annual award goes to those who have:
• Led successful resource conservation efforts that benefit the Peninsula and its residents directly;
• Acted as a community catalyst for programs, initiatives or ventures that demonstrate a commitment to the future of the Earth and its biodiversity.
• Become a model for future leaders in business and education or have been exemplary citizens or policy makers who have implemented decisions that, though they may entail risks, have helped communities take the next step toward environmental sustainability.
Previous winners
Previous winners include Katharine Baril, natural resource educator and planner for Washington State University, in 2005; Anne Murphy, executive director of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, in 2006; Tom Jay and Sara Mall Johani, artists and environmentalists, in 2007; and Al Latham, Jefferson County Conservation District ranger in 2008.
For more information or to request a nomination form, contact JoAnne Heron at jheron@ptmsc.org or 360-385-5582.
The form also can be downloaded from www.ptmsc.org.
Nominations can be sent to jheron@ptmsc.org or Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award, c/o PTMSC, 532 Battery Way, Port Townsend, WA 98368.
