At Skagit Land Trust’s 24th Annual Meeting on January 21, 2016, four individuals and three businesses were recognized for their contributions to local land conservation and stewardship. Over 100 people attended the meeting at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and proffered a standing ovation to this year’s Blue Heron Award recipient, Mount Vernon resident and Skagit Land Trust board member and land steward Harold (Hal) Lee. The Blue Heron Award is given by the Trust’s Board President to a staff member, board member or volunteer who has shown an extraordinary dedication to the lands of Skagit County.
The Trust’s Development Award was presented to the Guemes Island Resort and Guemes Mountain volunteer land stewards Kit Harma and Ian Woofenden for their outreach efforts in the recent campaign to expand the Guemes Mountain Conservation Area. The Conservation Award was bestowed to board member and La Conner resident Karen Krub for her significant contributions to the organization’s land conservation projects and the Conservation Strategy. The Stewardship Award was presented to Anacortes business Horizon Audio & Video and Canopy Conservation of Olympia for their assistance with annual maintenance for the March Point Heron Camera that provides live wildlife viewing at the Padilla Bay Reserve’s Breazeale Interpretive Center and online at skagitlandtrust.org during the heron’s nesting season from March – August.
Following the business meeting and awards, attendees enjoyed an interactive presentation about citizen science observations from March Point volunteer land steward LaVerne Scheltens and fantastic up-close heron images from Samish Island Heronry and Padilla Bay from local photographer Lance Ekhart. The Trust-protected March Point Heronry and Samish Island Heronry are two of the largest heron nesting sites in the Western United States with over 800 nests combined. For many years, Skagit Land Trust volunteers have been conducting annual nest counts at these two large Trust-protected heronries. More recently volunteers also began to monitor heron foraging and nesting behavior.