PORT ANGELES — John Willits, a dedicated conservationist whose passion helped preserve hundreds of acres of farmland and wildlife habitat, is dead. He was 78.
He died last Friday at his Port Angeles home after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
His death was announced Wednesday by friends close to the family. A memorial service is being planned.
Willits, who received a 2015 Clallam County Community Service Award in ceremonies only two weeks before his death, was a longtime champion of the North Olympic Land Trust.
“John was a personal hero of mine and a community icon for land conservation,” said Tom Sanford, executive director of the land trust.
“As I’ve reflected on the loss of my friend, I’ve been lifted and inspired by his legacy.”
A former Weyerhaeuser forester, Willits launched the Forestry Technology Program at Peninsula College in 1968 and taught at the college for 27 years.
“The students loved him,” said Robbie Mantooth, a longtime friend and fellow conservationist.
“He was known as being tough but very thorough. So many people have said that.”
Many of the leading foresters in the region were educated by Willits, Mantooth said.
“He was a person who just loved life,” she added.
Willits’ Quacker Farm in the lower Dungeness Valley was the first of 74 properties to enter into a conservation easement with the 25-year-old land trust.
It was the first of four conservation easements negotiated for Willits’ property across Clallam County and the first of dozens in which Willits played a key role.
“His passion for our natural environment coupled with his humble character, dry sense of humor and patient persistence have built a community land ethic that values and conserves lands that are the foundation of this place and our culture,” Sanford said in a statement from the land trust.
Willits was named Wildlife Farmer of the Year in 1999 by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and state Association of Conservation Districts because of habitat restoration and environmental enhancements at Quacker Farm.
His nomination for the 2015 Community Service Award came with endorsement letters by owners and managers of some of Clallam County’s notable land stewards — Merrill & Ring, Clallam Conservation District, Robbie and Jim Mantooth, Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, Nash’s Organic Produce and North Olympic Land Trust.
“John has been and will always be one of my key mentors,” wrote Cam Field of Merrill & Ring, who also noted Willits’ integrity and ethics.
“Our tribe and I have always admired John’s dedication to make a great difference in the habitat, salmon, birds and other wildlife on the North Olympic Peninsula,” wrote W. Ron Allen, chairman and CEO of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
Thanks in part to Willits’ efforts, much of the land near the mouth of the Dungeness River will be conserved in perpetuity for wildlife and farming.
“Working with local farmers, sportsmen, birding enthusiasts, government agencies and his family, he led a decades-long and ongoing effort to piece protect a so far 580-acre corridor including phenomenal farmland and waterfowl habitat,” Sanford wrote.
“This is effort will ensure that open spaces, habitat, local food, and recreational opportunities of the Lower Dungeness are available for generations to come.”
Willits became a board member of the North Olympic Land Trust in 1997 and was a longtime chair and co-chair of its conservation committee.
In a Wednesday telephone interview, Sanford said the land trust likely would not exist without Willits’ dedication.
“Our community has been shaped in a pretty significant way by John, both as a professor at Peninsula College and as a community member and as a leader as example,” Sanford said.
Willits joined the land trust in its early years when it had no land to protect, Robbie Mantooth recalled.
Willits walked the Mantooths through the process of converting their own land into conservation easements, she said.
“Jim and I had a lot of regard for what he was doing with his own property,” Mantooth said.
“We felt if John was going to do this, we could trust that this was a good thing.”
Later, the Mantooths discovered that Willits had been converting multiple parcels into conservation easements.
There are now 204 acres of Willits family property protected in conservations easements.
Robbie Mantooth said Willits loved birds, country music and hunting.
He continued to hunt despite the onset of Parkinson’s disease.
“John had been struggling with his health for quite a while,” Sanford said. “He lived with Parkinson’s for years.”
Despite the diagnosis, Willits continued to plant trees and pick apples for his apple cider.
“He wouldn’t quit,” Mantooth said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
