The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission recently named the recipients of the 2010 Volunteer Recognition Awards for outstanding volunteer service.
Last year, volunteers performed 313,461 hours of work with State Parks and Recreation, equal to 150 full-time employees.
Here are the honorees:
Rookie of the Year: Bill and BJ Sprague of Milton, for their service at Fort Flagler State Park. The Spragues stopped in at Fort Flagler to discuss having a rally for their recreational vehicle club and then signed up for two months of hosting. The couple developed a spreadsheet to track occupied sites during the nonreservation season, and Bill Sprague created a display to show campers how to properly fill out the fee envelope. These instructions reduced the number of incorrectly or incomplete registration envelopes. He also built a bike trailer for tools. Bill Sprague also designed and built recycle stations for the campground. As a result, recycling has increased, and the amount of trash has decreased.
Saves the Day Award: Robert and Jo Martinez of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., were honored for their assistance at Joemma Beach State Park. They maintained restrooms, cleaned campsites, mowed lawns, cleaned roads and trimmed brush. They provided extra services such as recycling, sign construction, and shop and vehicle cleaning. “The efforts of Robert and Jo Martinez made a substantial impact on the service the park provided to their visitors,” said park ranger Kristie Cronin.
Guy and Martha Parsons of Shelton also received the Saves the Day Award for their service to campers at Twanoh State Park. They created “Welcome Bags” containing park rules, park brochures, shellfish harvesting information, doggie bags and dog treats. “The Welcome Bags were a great hit with campers and they resulted in decreased shellfish harvesting violations,” said Park Ranger Stacy Czebotar. The Parsons offered to stay an additional two months because of a host cancellation. They provided much of the intensive winter duties such as clearing the park of leaves and windfall debris. Guy Parsons also helped direct volunteer work parties to prepare the park for the camping season.
Lifetime Achievement: Don and Karen Kohlenberg of Ragley, La., for serving 13 years as camp hosts at Fort Flagler State Park.
Volunteer of the Year: Paul and Mary Hofman of Reno, for service at Lime Kiln State Park’s lighthouse and interpretive center, beautifying the park and helping with park operations. The Hofmans gave impromptu interpretive talks about whales and educated visitors about park rules.
Host of the Year: John and Darlene Lundstrum of Airway Heights, for their service during their second year as park hosts at Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park. In addition to doing general host duties, they helped in the ground breaking of the new amphitheater, delivered sand to the day-use beach, repaired park mowers and developed an equipment usage board.
Significant Volunteer Achievement: Carla Main of Port Townsend for organizing a 1,200-participant tribal canoe event at Fort Worden State Park. The park is the only nontribal landing spot along the annual Tribal Canoe Journey. More than 100 canoes from coastal tribes in Washington and British Columbia participated as a result of Main’s navigation of the politics of three Native American tribes who claim ancestral rights to the land now known as Fort Worden State Park.
Significant Volunteer Achievement-Youth: Graham Frost of Port Townsend. A member of Scout Troop 1564, he completed a Scouting project by establishing interpretation for Battery Brannon, one of the mortar batteries at Fort Worden State Park.
Scout Award: Wesley Holden of Yakima, received the award for refurbishing the Pond Loop Trail at Yakima Sportsman State Park.
Special mention: Dennis and Sandra Haven of Livingston, Texas, were honored for creating a dedicated in-room guest guide for Fort Worden State Park’s vacation houses.
Outstanding contribution by an individual: Neil and Janet O’Connell of Concrete, were honored for their service at Rasar State Park.
Award Of Excellence: Bob and MaryBelle Brown of Nordland, for their continued service to Fort Flagler State Park. They began their volunteer service in 1997 when they organized and conducted the fort’s centennial celebration.
Outstanding Contribution by an Individual: Michael “Moh” O’Hanlon of Port Townsend for his continued service at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center at Fort Worden State Park, volunteering more than 4,000 hours.
Group of the Year: Cama Beach Foundation of Stanwood.
Outstanding Contribution-Group: Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
Outstanding Contribution-Youth: Washington Youth Academy of Bremerton for work performed at Twanoh and Belfair state parks.
Significant Volunteer Achievement-Group: Friends of Fort Flagler
Special Mention–Group Award: ACCESS Service Team of Port Townsend for providing an inclusive and accessible environment at Fort Worden State Park for patrons and participants with disabilities.
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