Each year, all of us here at the District have the honor of reflecting back on the great people and partnerships we've been blessed to work with to help make Pierce County a better place to call home. As part of our Annual Conservation Celebration, we like to acknowledge those folks that have risen above any expectation and who have helped us achieve our mission and goals. We hope you'll join us on March 21st at the Pioneer Park Pavilion in Puyallup to help us honor their commitment to creating a thriving community. 

These are our 2018 Conservation Champions:

Ernie Bay Lifetime Achievement Award: Henry Izumizaki: 
Carrying forward the legacy of our longtime Board Chair and community champion, Ernie Bay, is no easy task. However, with his years of work as the Strategy Director for The Russell Family Foundation and the tireless advocacy that helped lead to the creation of the Puyallup Watershed Initiative, a 10-year, $10 million investment in equity-based environmental efforts, Henry's dedication would have made Ernie proud.

Henry has shown many of us, through his own actions and manner, the power of collaboration. Recently retired, his promotion of creative thinking and encouragement of risk-taking among his colleagues across all areas of the Foundation: grassroots leadership, environmental sustainability, and global peace, will be missed.

Brian Abbott Above and Beyond Award: Kelly Stave
Similarly with Ernie's award, it's a challenge to live up to the legacy of energy and dedication shown by our former District Manager, Brain Abbott. Fortunately for us, Kelly makes presenting this award easy. She may very well be the definition of Above and Beyond. Kelly has been a dedicated volunteer at The Farm at Franklin Pierce, helped with our Green Partnership Fund, maintains community garden beds, is a gleaning volunteer, a water quality monitor, and volunteers to help with habitat restoration as well. There's little we do here that Kelly doesn't support in some way and she does it all with a beaming smile that brightens each of our days. We are grateful for everything Kelly does for our community and for carrying on Brian's legacy of going above and beyond.

Volunteer of the Year Award: Lloyd Fetterly
Lloyd has been working with PCD for 20 years, he has served as an associate board member, and volunteered in just about every program at the District. He has planted thousands of trees and shrubs and worked countless hours. Lloyd’s dedication is not limited to PCD and he volunteers with several other local organizations. As a Lead Habitat Steward at Meeker Creek he leads work parties and introduces new volunteers to the joy of restoring our local ecosystems. We wouldn't have the impact that we do without Lloyd's dedication.

Conservation Practice Implementer of the Year: Foxglove Farm, Erin Taylor and Josh Johnson
With financial support from the WA State Conservation Commission, Erin and Josh constructed a 1,349 foot fence along a creek that runs from their property down to Filucy Bay. The fence keeps their livestock out of the stream and along with a hedgerow planting, helps with efforts to improve water quality and recover shellfish harvest areas in the bay. They also helped organized the volunteer planting for the hedgerow and with their own funds, installed a fenced heavy use area for their goats to live on during the winter. Foxglove Farm is a great example of the conservation benefits we can achieve through our voluntary approach and we look forward to building off this great partnership into the future.

Public Agency of the Year: City of Lakewood
The City of Lakewood’s volunteer lake monitoring program began in 2000 to encourage lake stewardship for American, Gravelly, Louise, Steilacoom, Carp and Waughop lakes and to provide data to assist in management decisions. Thirty-seven volunteers have participated over 19-years as lake monitors contributing more than 2,700 hours.  This has been a successful partnership that has brought the community into lake and citizen science while providing the city with data on lake conditions and health. This award is in recognition for the City of Lakewood’s long-term support of the volunteer lake monitoring program.

Community Food Project of the Year: Blueberry Park Garden, Corina Going and Anthony Bradley
Blueberry Park Community Garden members worked tirelessly from 2015 to 2018 to establish a garden at Blueberry Park, in an underserved part of Tacoma.  The community members came together out of their collective frustration about the conditions in the neighborhood but ultimately decided to channel that energy into something positive and designed, developed and built a beautiful and unique garden.  Along they way, they conceived of and organized three ‘Blueberries and Blues’ concerts in the park to raise awareness of their efforts, and will ultimately establish a playground next to the park as well.

Educator of the Year: Stephanie Christy, Salishan Association
Stephanie was a key organizer of our Salishan ECO Camps in 2018. She connected with the community to advertise the camp, coordinated the walking bus that got kids there each day, participated in the activities and outings, and linked us up with garden volunteers and other community members. Additionally, she leads youth clubs and community outreach efforts in Salishan. Stephanie brings a keen sense of collaboration and connection to projects and communities that otherwise can be underserved.

Partner of the Year: Mia Devine, Spark NW
Since 2016, the District has partnered with Spark NW's Mia Devine to offer energy conservation assistance to 60 farmers and rural small business owners across Washington State resulting in 1.05 million kWh of clean, renewable energy installations. In 2018, Mia helped deliver a 500kW community solar installation on Decatur Island that we hope to replicate in Pierce County. We celebrate Mia and Spark NW for their dedication and advocacy to bring a cleaner future to the Pacific Northwest, their commitment to equity and low-income households, and the celebration of energy-independent, sustainable rural communities.