PORT ANGELES — John Willits will receive the inaugural Gary Colley Legacy Award at the North Olympic Land Trust’s annual public membership meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The meeting will be at the Fairview Grange, 161 Lake Farm Road.
Willits, a longtime land trust board member, has made “immeasurable contributions to land conservation in Clallam County,” according to Tom Sanford, executive director of the land trust.
He has been instrumental in most of the land trust’s 80 conservation projects, Sanford said.
Also, Sanford added, Willits and his family have personally donated conservation easements on more than 220 acres for waterfowl habitat and farmland, primarily near the mouth of the Dungeness River.
The Gary Colley Legacy Award, named after a land trust founder, is awarded to Clallam County residents who have had exceptional and lasting impact on land conservation in the area.
Colley will be on hand to present this year’s award to his longtime colleague.
The 1½-hour annual meeting will include a presentation on recent land trust activities and the results of a strategic planning process to lay out a vision for local land conservation in the years ahead.
The program also will feature a presentation by Joshua Chenoweth, botanical restorationist with Olympic National Park.
Chenoweth will report on the process of regrowing a forest in the lakebeds of the former reservoirs behind the Elwha dams.
Also, four new directors for the land trust board will be selected.
After the presentation and meeting, a guided tour of the nearby Siebert Creek Conservation Area will be offered.
RSVPs are appreciated. To RSVP, contact Brad Tesreau at brad@northolympiclandtrust.org or 360-417-1815, ext. 4.
