Harlequin Duck - Photo: Chris Perry



OPAS HARLEQUIN AWARD 2024

By Ken Wiersema

Annually, past Harlequin awardees who have remained active as OPAS leaders, solicit nominees from our board and membership for a member or members who have made outstanding contributions to our programs and mission. This year, Marie Grad was the recipient of the Harlequin Award, presented at our June 19th meeting. Marie was recognized for her outstanding and generous contributions of time, talent and effort toward the conservation of birds and birding habitat on the Olympic Peninsula. Her accomplishments and contributions include:

  • Serving on the OPAS Board of Directors since 2014, first as a Member at Large, then as Co-Vice President in 2017-2018.

  • Serving as the Field Trip Coordinator from 2019 to the present time.

  • Participating in numerous citizen science projects for OPAS and other organizations. These include Wednesday morning bird walks, Christmas Bird Count, Great Backyard Bird Count, Birdathon, swan and Pigeon Guillemot surveys, and COASST dead bird surveys.

  • Involvement in many events that support the Dungeness River Nature Center. These include fundraisers, River Center Rally, BirdFest, and Nature Mart.

  • Serving as an OPAS representative to the Nature Center Board, and on the Executive Committee of DRNC.

  • Serving as a member of the Railroad Bridge Park Stewardship Committee and is a regular, dedicated volunteer docent at the Nature Center. 

Ken Wiersema, President, presenting Marie Grad with the Harlequin Award.

Previous OPAS Harlequin Awardees congratulate Marie on her award. Left to right: Bob Boekeheide, Bob Phreaner, Enid Phreaner, Marion Rutledge, Shirley Anderson, Marie Grad, Clare Manis Hatler, Annette Hanson, Ken Wiersema

Harlequin Award

Background: Board Resolution established the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society Harlequin Award on June 10, 1982. Its stated purpose was to recognize Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society (OPAS) members for their “outstanding and generous contributions of time, talent and effort toward the conservation of birds and birding habitat on the Olympic Peninsula through scientific, educational and advocacy endeavors.” The first Harlequin Award committee was asked to prepare a ranked list of award nominees for the Board, the Board made the final choice.

Purpose:  The purpose of the OPAS Harlequin Award is to recognize members for their outstanding accomplishments and sustained generous contributions of time, talent and effort toward the Olympic Peninsula’s environment through science, education and/or bird advocacy.

Process: At its February 2022 meeting the OPAS Board shall appoint a person to chair the selection panel. The chair should be a past recipient of the award. Chair will contact prior awardees who are still active in OPAS to become the selection panel. The selection panel will be reminded of the criteria for the award (current OPAS member, outstanding contribution, etc. See above) and to ask for nominations. The selection panel members can solicit nominations from the OPAS Board, or other OPAS members. Nominations are to include the name or names of the nominee as well as a statement of their accomplishments indicating why they are being nominated. The slate of nominations is then compiled by the chair and sent to the panel to vote for who they believe is most worthy in that given year. Panel members can add to or modify the description of the accomplishments of any of the nominees. Once the panel has selected an awardee, the chair is to arrange for the Harlequin Duck to be retrieved from the last recipient and arrange to have the plaque engraved.

OPAS Harlequin Award Recipients 1981 - present

1981 Karl Greubel - For his five year bird census of the entire length of Dungeness and Graveyard Spits, and his valuable service as a frequent filed trip leader and teacher.

1982 The Clawson Family - Arita, Bob and Betty were valuable leaders in the chapter’s early years as officers and as committee chairs.

1983 Gunnar Fagerlund - First President of OPAS; brought us through provisional status to full Audubon chapter status.

1984 Harvey and Eloise Kailin – Were leaders in Conser vation struggles for OPAS over a ten-year period. No Oilport, Sequim Bay Marina, Sequim sewage discharge, etc.

1985 Homer Frazier – Chapter President; was very active in numerous environmental battles including Northern Tier, timber sales, hazardous waste dumping, offshore drilling, etc.

1986 Robert Knox – Served OPAS as Newsletter Editor for six years, as President for two years, and as a Washington Environmental Council Board member and officer for four years.

1987 Henry & Jodie Hoekstra – Hank served as President for two terms (four years), organized the chapter’s first Board Handbook in 1987, worked on a number of environmental projects in the county. Jodie served as Education Chair and promoted wildlife and environmental education in Sequim and Port Angeles schools. Both strongly supported the building and education programs in the Sequim Natural History Museum.

1990 Annette Hanson – Co-founder of the Sequim Natural History Museum (1984), OPAS newsletter editor for two years, President two years, Secretary two years, Fund Raising Chair for three years. Co-founder of the Dungeness River Natural History Center and Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation.

1991 Welden & Virginia Clark – Served as chapter newsletter Editors, Treasurers and Membership Chairs. Provided valuable research and resources for the Dungeness-Quilcene Watershed Project. Coordinated the Hawk Watch research data project at Neah Bay for several years.

1993 Dory & Stan Smith - Provided leadership in bird identification classes in the county for countless years, served as field trip leaders. Stan served as OPAS treasurer. Dory coordinated the Clallam County Christmas Bird Count for many years and authored “Dungeness Diary” in the Harlequin Happenings since its beginning.

1994 Gene Kridler – Provided numerous bird banding programs for the chapter and visitors since his retirement from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Continues to band birds and inventory bird movement in the Olympic Peninsula area.

1996  Les Jones

1997  Dr. Bob Norton

1998 Pat & Jack Fletcher

1999  Pat & John Willits

2001  Ken Wiersema

2002 Bob Boekelheide

2003 Stuart & Pat MacRobbie

2004 Sue Chickman

2005 Claude & Edna Ritze

2006 Eftin Strong

2007 Bob Iddins

2008 Shirley Anderson

2009 Dave & Julie Jackson

2010 Robert Hutchison – Served as President, Harlequin Happenings Editor, Birdfest Committee.

2011 Clare Manis Hatler

2012 Kendra Donelson

2013 Judith Mullally

2014 Jim & Audrey Gift

2015 Ken and Janie Leuthold

2016 Mary Porter-Solberg

2017 Nancy Bargar – Treasurer for 7 years, organized QuickBooks to enhance reporting, learned Salesforce for membership tracking, tracked BirdFest funding.

2018 Tom Montgomery – Served as President for two terms, advocated for board and member insurance and has been a generous contributor to OPAS.

2019  Marion Rutledge — Marion worked to help create the Salesforce database and to maintain it. She is a reliable and omnipresent BirdFest volunteer, taking on a variety of important roles. Marion assists Bob Boekelheide with the Wednesday morning bird walk.

2020  Not awarded during pandemic

2022  Bob and Enid Phreaner – Bob President for 2 years, Enid Secretary for 3 years. Bob Conservation Committee Chair or Co-chair for 10 years and Project Swan Safe. Enid BirdFest Planning, Bringing NAS Photography winners display to Sequim, Partnering for Membership drive. Both for Bird Monitoring and Conservation efforts.

2023 Dow Lambert – Led Purple Martin nest box projects at 3 Crabs, Morse Creek, Port Angeles Yacht Harbor, and Protection Island NWR. BirdFest Field trip leader since 2012. Nest box building class assistant 10 years. Superb recruiter for OPAS nest box fabrication work. Prepared and edited instructional video for OPAS-designed Purple Martin nest box fabrication, used by WDFW and by Sequim HS students. Also adopted by nest box builders in British Columbia and Oregon. 

2024 Marie Grad