The popular annual breakfast celebrating local land conservation is sold out, but supporters can get on a wait-list or enjoy virtually the North Olympic Land Trust’s 15th-annual Conservation Breakfast.
Highlighting the Dungeness levee setback and floodplain restoration, this year’s event is set for 10-11 a.m. Friday, April 21, at the Dungeness River Nature Center, 1943 W. Hendrickson Road.
The breakfast is complimentary, though donations are accepted. RSVP to join the wait-list or get a Zoom link at northolympiclandtrust.org, or call 360-417-1815.
The breakfast is held each year to bring together community members and partner organizations from across Clallam County in celebrating local land conservation.
This year, a panel of leaders will speak about the ongoing floodplain restoration on the lower Dungeness River. Moderated by Land Trust (NOLT) executive director Tom Sanford, representatives from Clallam County and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Natural Resources Department will elaborate on the project, the collaborations that made it happen, and what we have learned so far about how the river, fish and wildlife are using this floodplain.
At the end of December, a heavy rain quickly melted snow and ice that had accumulated during a recent storm, and in just a few days the Dungeness swelled from a discharge of 93 cubic feet per second to nearly 2,300 cubic feet per second, NOLT representatives said. Thanks to the setback of two miles of levee over the last few years, these waters were able to spread out and naturally meandered through nearly 200 acres of floodplain that had been disconnected from the river since the 1960s, creating prime salmon habitat.
The Land Trust will also honor a local citizen or group with their “Out Standing in the Field Award” at Conservation Breakfast. The award recognizes locals who stand out for their quality of work and passion for community well-being and local land conservation. Previous honorees include the late Dick Goin, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Jefferson Land Trust and photographer/filmographer John Gussman.
The North Olympic Land Trust is “dedicated to the conservation of open spaces, local food, local resources, healthy watersheds and recreational opportunities.” The Trust’s mission is to “conserve the land and natural resources that continue to be the foundation of our culture, economy, and way of life.”
Since its founding in 1990, NOLT representatives note, the Trust has conserved more than 3,700 acres across the North Olympic Peninsula for farms, fish and forests. Visit northolympiclandtrust.org.
Photo courtesy of Suzanne Hadley/North Olympic Land Trust / The Olympic Mountains are reflected in high water in the new floodplain at the site of the levee setback project on the Dungeness River.
