- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Holford honored as Lake County’s Conservationist of the Year
Dwight Holford, who now lives in Sacramento, made the trip to Lake County last week to receive the award and proclamation from the Board of Supervisors.
His name will be added to a plaque honoring previous award winners that hangs in the courthouse lobby.
Greg Giusti, chair of the Lake County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee, introduced Holford and detailed his accomplishments, explaining that the committee was recommending him for the award.
“One of the most pleasurable things that we have to do is to identify people in the county that make a special contribution to fish and wildlife resources,” Giusti said.
Giusti said they try to go through that process annually, but said it hasn’t happened in several years.
“This one’s overdue. This one should have been done years ago, there’s no question about it,” Giusti said.
Holford is a Korean War veteran who went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in fisheries in 1959 from Humboldt State University.
After a 32-year career in the US Department of Defense, he retired and in 1988 moved to Lake County.
In 1996 Holford was one of the founding directors of the Upper Putah Creek Stewardship, Giusti said.
Giusti said Holford volunteered and assisted with youth programs such as Field Days in the Creek, developed the “Trout in the Classroom” program in local schools and pioneered bioassessment water quality monitoring in Lake County.
He also managed several successful grants that led to bioassessment training, invasive weeds mapping and eradication, recruitment and training of volunteers to collect water samples, watershed restoration projects and workshops, native plant production and long-range planning, according to the proclamation.
Holford also served as watershed coordinator for the Upper Putah Creek Watershed, building exceptional partnerships with local, state and federal agencies, local tribes, schools, and environmental and watershed groups, Giusti said.
In addition to that work, the proclamation outlined Holford’s other community involvement, including chairing the California Garden Clubs Inc., acting as a director of the Middletown Senior Center and working with the East Lake Resource Conservation District. He also was a member of the Middletown Area Plan Advisory Committee, the Lake County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee and a Lake County Hunger Task Force volunteer.
In 2002, Holford was one of the founding directors of the Sacramento River Watershed Program, as Lake County News has reported.
Giusti said Holford continues to work on a number of environmental programs, adding that he’s one of the special people who should have been recognized long ago.
Holford and wife, Joelle, left Lake County in 2014. In February of that year, he also received a proclamation from the Board of Supervisors, honoring him for his extensive contributions.
Supervisor Moke Simon presented the proclamation to Holford after Giusti’s introduction.
Holford was modest about his efforts.
“If anybody thinks that this was an effort all by myself, they don’t how things go,” he said.
“The real winners are sitting out here,” he added, pointing to those in the audience who had come to honor him, who he said were the teams and people who got involved.
“For me it was just something that I was interested in, and it kept me off the street, kept me busy,” he said.
Holford is still keeping busy. He said he’s now a member of the Yolo Resource Conservation District.
“It’s really a pleasure,” he said of the honors the board gave him.
He said he really loved Lake County. “Thank you very much.”
Board Chair Jeff Smith offered Holford his personal thanks.
“Without people like you, we wouldn't get a lot of this stuff done,” Smith said.
Supervisor Jim Steele added that when someone steps up as a leader in the community, they are valued as gold.
“You are, sir, a rare breed,” said Steele.
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