This volunteer spotlight focuses on the partnership of Ron Lindsay and Theresa (Tress) Connolly. They first volunteered with us in July, 2018 when they joined the LEAF crew and others as we tackled some very overgrown blackberry along House Slough (Hurn Field). Since then, one or both of them has attended over twenty different work parties! They enjoy helping on the “big” projects: fence removal, tree planting and the never-ending battle of invasives. Ron actually likes to cut and grub out blackberries and even crafted his own plastic bottle “armor” to protect his arms while working!

Before they retired to Anacortes in 2018, Ron spent his career as a climate scientist at the University of Washington. He did field work in the arctic and worked in modelling, understanding, and predicting sea ice movement, growth, and melt and in monitoring the changes we are seeing in the ice pack and in Arctic climate. He was very much involved in tracking the dramatic decline we are seeing in sea ice coverage. Tress worked at the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library and was in charge of the book recording program. She had over 50 volunteers who read the books, checked them, and formatted them for distribution. Hers was the first regional library in the nation to go all digital.

When asked what keeps them coming back to volunteer with Skagit Land Trust, they said, “We feel the idea of protecting our natural landscapes is essential for both a healthy natural environment and for providing opportunities for our communities to experience wild places. We also like learning about different corners of the region that we would otherwise know nothing about and to contributing to their upkeep. And of course we very much enjoy meeting Trust staff and the other volunteers during the party part of the work”.

Thanks, Ron and Tress! We look forward to seeing you in the field soon!