Eight Good Stewardship awards were presented at “Sustainable San Juans: Greening Your Home, Business and Food,” an Earth Day event held Saturday in Friday Harbor.
The awards were part of a three-day celebration of environmental stewardship sponsored by the San Juan Stewardship Network and the San Juan Island Community Foundation.
The Business Stewardship Award went to Lopez 4-Way Reefnet and Jack Giard, owner for more than 40 years.
Reefnet fishing is the most selective of the commercial fishing techniques and allows salmon stocks of conservation concern as well as other bycatch to be returned with zero mortality.
“Lopez 4-Way Reefnet (has) demonstrated to us all that sometimes the best way of doing things … is the old way of doing things,” coordinators said.
Giard is a member of the county Marine Resources Committee.
The Youth Stewardship Award was given to Julian Glasser, a senior at Orcas High School.
Julian promotes bicycle commuting by cycling the 16-mile round-trip commute from his home in Olga to Orcas High School. He is building bike racks for the community to use, and has created a community BikeShare program, rebuilding several bikes for that effort.
He also pioneered the recycling program at Orcas High School four years ago, single-handedly taking responsibility for recycling every Friday until the program got off the ground.
The Educator Stewardship Award was presented in absentia to Dr. Eugene Kozloff, professor emeritus at the University of Washington Department of Biology and former associate director and continuing researcher at the U.W. Friday Harbor Labs.
Kozloff is the author of seven books, including “Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast,” “Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest,” and “Plants of Western Oregon, Washington & British Columbia.”
The Individual Stewardship Award was given to Peter Fisher of Orcas Island.
For many years, Fisher was one of the leaders in the effort to preserve Madrona Point on Orcas. He was instrumental in the formation of the San Juan County Land Bank. He was also one of the founders of the OPAL Community Land Trust.
More recently, Fisher founded Island Stewards, which he hopes will be, among other things, and umbrella organization for smaller non-profits and projects.
The Woodland Stewardship Award was given to Bob and Pat Jester, property owners on Orcas Island.
They have been quietly conserving a large swath of forestland along the Western slope of Entrance Mountain, near Rosario on Orcas Island, for many years.
The Shoreline Stewardship Award was given to Dr. Mike Kaill of San Juan Island.
Kaill started testing stormwater outfalls in Friday Harbor and, as manager of the Spring Street Aquarium, has used it as his “canary in the coal mine” to gauge the health of the harbor. After noticing a significant die-off in the animals within the aquarium (who live in water pulled straight from the harbor), Kaill used his own money to purchase an EPA-approved water testing kit to determine the cause of the problem.
After determining that the cause of the die-offs were high concentrations of soaps and detergents, Kaill began a campaign to bring attention to the issue.
The Farmland Stewardship Award was presented to the Bullock Brothers Permaculture Homestead, on Orcas Island.
Douglas, Joseph and Sam Bullock founded the Permaculture Homestead, near Deer Harbor on Orcas Island, in the early 1980s Pursuing the three ethics central to permaculture design — care for the earth, care for people and fair share for all — the brothers grow vegetables, flowers and livestock in a manner that is in harmony with their surrounding environment.
The Village Stewardship Award was presented to Lynn Danaher of San Juan Island, the owner of Archipelago Properties.
She was the driving force behind the recycling and refurbishment of the Churchill House and the Carter House, two historically significant homes in Friday Harbor.
In keeping with the original character of the homes and of the town of Friday Harbor, she remodeled these aging structures using many recycled materials.
The homes, now used as office suites, are surrounded by a limited hardscape. This low-impact development allows for natural drainage and prevents unnecessary storm water run-off.
Award recipients were presented with large pottery “Finnys” — fish-shaped creations handcrafted by Crow Valley Pottery — at a luncheon provided by Tom French and the Experience Food Project.
