Dungeness team receives Land Trust’s Out Standing in the Field award

By Michael Dashiell • April 26, 2023 1:30 am
Photo courtesy of North Olympic Land Trust Members of the Dungeness River Management Team enjoy a day at Railroad Bridge Park. The organization was named the North Olympic Land Trust’s 2023 “Out Standing in the Field” award recipient at the Land Trust’s annual conservation breakfast on April 21.
Photo courtesy of North Olympic Land Trust Members of the Dungeness River Management Team enjoy a day at Railroad Bridge Park. The organization was named the North Olympic Land Trust’s 2023 “Out Standing in the Field” award recipient at the Land Trust’s annual conservation breakfast on April 21.

A group best known for its advocacy toward Sequim’s iconic Dungeness River has earned the North Olympic Land Trust’s Out Standing in the Field Award.

The Dungeness River Management Team (DRMT), a collaborative of individuals and stakeholders “working together to develop and pursue implementation of locally based, long-term solutions to Dungeness Watershed management issues” was awarded the 10th “Out Standing” honor at the Land Trust’s annual conservation breakfast on Friday, April 21, at the Dungeness River Nature Center.

Hansi Hals, Nature Resources Department director for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and several DRMT members were on hand to accept the award last week.

“Since 1988, this group [said], ‘Let’s figure this stuff out together,’” said Tom Sanford, North Olympic Land Trust’s executive director. “They’ve asked the hard questions about the Dungeness River.”

Originally formed in 1988 to help foster communication between various stakeholders, both public and private, on the topic of flood management for the Dungeness, the team helped Clallam County produce its 1990 flood management plan, since updated in 2009.

The group has been nationally recognized for its cooperative resolution of watershed problems, and collaborating on projects to restore the health of the river. The team has over the years dealt with various river issues, including floodplain and riparian development, logging practices, water quality, water conservation, preservation of agricultural lands, fish and wildlife habitat, and other natural resources issues.

DRMT partners in recent years, who work in various groupings on different projects, have included: Clallam Conservation District; estuary/tidelands property owners; Protect Peninsula’s Future; Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe; Clallam County; City of Sequim; Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge; Dungeness Water Users Association; Dungeness River Audubon Center; North Olympic Land Trust; riverside property owners; sport fisheries; Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society; Washington Department of Ecology; Dungeness Beach Association; Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; U.S. Forest Service, and Clallam County PUD No. 1.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Hansi Hals, Natural Resources director for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (lower left), accepts the North Olympic Land Trust’s “Out Standing in the Field” award for the Dungeness River Management Team at the Land Trust’s annual conservation breakfast on April 21.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Hansi Hals, Natural Resources director for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (lower left), accepts the North Olympic Land Trust’s “Out Standing in the Field” award for the Dungeness River Management Team at the Land Trust’s annual conservation breakfast on April 21.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Hansi Hals, Natural Resources director for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (lower left), accepts the North Olympic Land Trust’s “Out Standing in the Field” award for the Dungeness River Management Team at the Land Trust’s annual conservation breakfast on April 21.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Hansi Hals, Natural Resources director for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (lower left), accepts the North Olympic Land Trust’s “Out Standing in the Field” award for the Dungeness River Management Team at the Land Trust’s annual conservation breakfast on April 21.