All the Winners

Here is a brief write-up on each of the seven winners of the 2014 Good Stewardship Awards from the Stewardship Network of the San Juans…

Business Stewardship
Deer Harbor Charters, Tom & Nate Averna
Orcas Island

Deer Harbor Charters was chosen for their generous donations of time and resources in support of the marine environment and education of the community. For over three decades, co-owners Tom and Nate Averna-father and son-have led whalewatching and marine wildlife tours with an experienced captain and naturalists aboard to offer lessons on wildlife and local history throughout the San Juan Islands.

Their enthusiasm and passion for the islands prompts them to further educate visitors and islanders in many ways. They write an ongoing series of natural history articles; donate captain, crew and boat time for various conservation projects; donate gift certificates for nonprofit fundraisers; cosponsor the Sea Doc Society Marine Lecture Series; take selected classes of Orcas Island School children out on their tours for free; and include in their on-board lectures a message of marine stewardship and ethic of personal responsibility.

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Farmland Stewardship
Christine Langley
Lopez Island

Christine has used sustainable methods to grow vegetables and fruit on Lopez Island for over 15 years. She controls diseases and pests organically, rotates her crops, uses drip irrigation, harvests rain water and keeps bees for pollination. She is adamant about recycling local materials as much as possible for any structures needed, uses solar energy-run fences to keep chickens on fallow fields and provides passive ventilation in her greenhouses by opening the ends and rolling up the sides to encourage airflow.

She is also on the Board of Lopez Locavores, a grassroots nonprofit community organization that promotes local sustainable food economy and land stewardship. Christine is always willing to educate anyone interested in sustainable farming.

In an article in The Islands Weekly, Christine summed up her passion for farming. “I guess for me this is really profound work,” she said. “The longer I do it the deeper it gets for me, and the more connections I feel to people all over the world who grow their own food or food for their communities. I feel a kinship with them.”

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Woodland Stewardship
Ken & Marcia Culver
Orcas Island

Ken and Marcia and the Culver family donated their 24-acre shoreline and forest preserve on Orcas Island to the San Juan Preservation Trust (SJPT) in 2013. This property, with over 700 feet of rugged high bank shoreline facing southeast toward Rosario Strait, has been in the family for six generations.

The preserve is part of a larger tract of land owned by the family, which also contained the Culver farmhouse and is now a historic site. When a fish resort run by the family on an adjacent shoreline parcel ended operations in the 1950s, they kept the property and managed it as a working forest. Ultimately they decided they would rather donate it to the Preservation Trust than see it logged. «We wanted that beautiful and natural piece of land protected for all time,” said Ken. Under SJPT management, the forests will continue to mature and decline as nature sees fit.

The Culvers are currently working with neighbors to place a conservation easement on an adjoining 60 additional acres.

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Educator Stewardship
Debbie Taylor
San juan Island

Debbie teaches math and science to 6th grade students at Friday Harbor Elementary School. Through the use of multi-media technology, dynamic learning experiences and connection with local partners such as the University of Washington Friday Harbor Labs Science Outreach program, she motivates her students to develop expertise that will encourage creative thinking while becoming responsible and respectful global citizens.

Her passion for promoting project-based learning to encourage peer-to-peer instruction and support offers her students exceptional opportunities, such as her role in bringing the district and state Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) model to her classroom. This three-year project recently concluded with the Outdoor Lab STEM Research Garden breaking ground ceremony after students spent three weeks going from sod to garden. “Kindergartners were working with sixth graders, working sweaty hard to get their garden in,” said Debbie. “This was the best three weeks of my career, and I have had an amazing career in education.”

She praised the San Juans as an excellent place to nurture young people into becoming stewards of their community and beyond. “I am fortunate to live in this precious piece of paradise where one can open the doors of opportunity for others to walk through-which they do eagerly because our community of both young and old care about each other and their environment.”

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Special Award: Environmental Awareness
Friends of Moran, Michel Vekved
Orcas Island

Friends of Moran provides exceptional stewardship and outreach programs for visitors to Moran State Park. This is due in large part to Michel, who has volunteered countless hours over the years to build a functioning board of volunteers, launch a website, open the Summit Learning Center and recruit staff for the gift shop atop Mt. Constitution. Today, thousands of visitors receive firsthand information about stewardship, protection and conservation of our parklands.

Michel also created an internship program at the Learning Center for college students to serve as docents, helped raise funding and in-kind donations for new play equipment for Cascade Lake, drew a greater awareness to the Kokanee Hatchery and created a partnership with Long Live the Kings, and cultivated sponsors to reprint and distribute a free Moran Park map for visitors. After 11 acres of Douglas fir were removed by state parks as a result of laminar root rot, she helped coordinate volunteers to replant the area around Camp Moran.

“None of what we strive to do would have happened without the passionate and dedicated Friends of Moran volunteers and supporters,” she said. “This award is a great recognition for all the collective efforts surrounding environmental awareness and educational opportunities.”

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Individual Stewardship
Chuck 0’Clair
San Juan Island

To date, Chuck has logged over 1800 volunteer hours with various stewardship organizations throughout the San Juan Islands.

He participated in the Washington State University Extension San Juan County Beach Watchers Program, which allows him to collect valuable research data, and is currently involved in three projects: A Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) program that monitors evidence of seabird mortality, a Friends of the San Juans study of forage fish spawning and the San Juan County Land Bank restoration of forest habitat on Cady Mountain.

As an animal care volunteer at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for 12 years, he prepares food and formulas, feeds animals, maintains facilities, helps with rescues and takes part in releasing animals back into the wild. “Chuck is Wolf Hollow’s longest-serving animal care volunteer,” said Education Coordinator Shona Aitken. “We deeply appreciate his dedication and support of our work.”

An avid birder, he has gathered data weekly on the species and abundance of birds at Three Meadows Marsh since 2002, and continues to submit data to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a repository for worldwide bird data used by scientists studying the distribution and abundance of birds over time.

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Youth Stewardship
Zack Kostechko
Orcas Island

This graduating senior contributed a total of 66 volunteer hours with the Orcas Youth Conservation Corps (OYCC) last summer. Not only did he set an excellent example for other students through his hard work and courteous manner, he was also quick to help younger workers and encourage them to work harder.

Zack also volunteered in several other capacities. He served as a cadet last year for the Orcas Volunteer Fire Department, helped plan and install the demonstration rain garden project in the parking lot of Ray’s Pharmacy to mitigate stormwater runoff, and spent hours during and after school helping to install Stormwater Rainwater decals on the storm drains in Eastsound.

It is clear that this Orcas High School graduate cares about the environment and wants to make a difference. He is knowledgeable about environmental issues, and has worked hard to effect change. “I like doing physical work, building things and being outdoors,” he said. “I want to make the island look better.”

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Categories: Around Here