FORKS — A retired teacher has given the North Olympic Land Trust the last $500 needed for finishing an environmental education shelter on a conservation area near Forks, the land trust said.

“The final cash donation that covered the remaining construction expenses came from an appropriate source: retired environmental education teacher Diane Jorgenson of Port Angeles,” said Matthew Randazzo, the land trust’s development director, in a statement.

The shelter at the 255-acre Elk Creek Conservation Area one mile east of Forks is designed to be used by schoolchildren for less­ons and rain cover during field trips.

“My mother used to call me a ‘wild-eyed conservationist,’ and that’s a title I wear proudly to this day,” said Jorgenson, who retired to Port Angeles after 30 years as a math and environmental science teacher in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area.

“I am proud to support NOLT in its mission to instill the importance of ecological stewardship on the next generation of Olympic Peninsula residents,” she said, according to Randazzo.

The public forest, featuring a 2.5-mile round-trip trail, was opened in June.

Funded by a U.S. Forest Service grant, the land trust prepared the area for nonmotorized public recreation and environmental use.

It was once Rayonier property and was donated to the land trust by the Wild Salmon Center to protect the creek used by chinook salmon for spawning.

Crews restored natural habitat, redirected trails and added a bridge, interpretative signs and an information kiosk.

By November

Work on the shelter began in August. It is expected to be completed by November and is being built entirely through local donations and labor, Randazzo said.

“Factoring in the value of our staff time, the value of the materials donated and the value of the labor being donated by individual volunteers and outside groups, the final cost of the shelter would be somewhere in the range of $15,000 to $25,000,” Randazzo said.

Donations of material, labor and cash to build the shelter also came from the Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition, the Clallam County SKY Crew, Forks Outfitters, Forks True Value, Allen Logging Co. and First Federal Savings & Loan.

“Luckily for us, groups like the Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition are not charging us for the thousands of dollars of labor and expertise they are providing, so the total amount of money actually changing hands is extremely small,” Randazzo said.

Teachers, school administrators and youth group leaders interested in using the area for field trips can email Brenda Campbill, land trust environmental education coordinator, at Brenda@NOLT.org.

“I am very excited to see kids running around the forest and learning about the wonders of nature,” Campbell said.

“The Elk Creek Conservation Area is NOLT’s gift to the community,” she added.

More information about the Elk Creek Conservation Area and the land trust can be found at ww.nolt.org.