PORT TOWNSEND — The Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award is a big deal, given to those who have made significant contributions in the protection and stewardship of the North Olympic Peninsula’s natural environment.

But when it came time for Dick and Marie Goin of Port Angeles to receive this year’s award, they were otherwise engaged.

Instead, state Rep. Steve Tharinger accepted the award on the Goins’ behalf at a fundraising breakfast for the Port Townsend Marine Science Center on Thursday.

“I think that Dick and Marie did have this other event scheduled, but this isn’t really Dick’s type of thing,” said Tharinger, D-Sequim.

Tharinger is also one of the three Clallam County commissioners.

“I don’t think that I’ve ever seen Dick in any other outfit besides that work shirt, those black suspenders or those jeans he wears all the time,” he added.

Said marine science center Director Ann Murphy:

“I think that Steve hit the nail on the head.

“He didn’t want to come over here.”

Previously recognized

The Goins were then honored for their involvement in salmon restoration projects across the Peninsula and in Olympic National Park.

An expert on the Elwha River, Dick Goin participated in the Sept. 17 ceremonies marking the beginning of the removal of the two Elwha dams.

A phone call seeking comment from the Goins about the Stopps award was not returned Thursday.

About 150 people attended the breakfast, which raised $51,070 for Port Townsend Marine Science Center programs.

This included a $25,000 challenge grant from a private donor.

Tharinger, Murphy and Orcas Island-based wildlife veterinarian Joseph Gaydos comprised the program, which combined information and a plea for financial support.

“It’s wonderful to be in a room where people believe in science,” Tharinger said,

“I’ve been in several rooms this week where that wasn’t quite the case.”

“The term ‘environmental stewardship’ is pretty new, yet you think about the planet in earlier times when there were fewer humans living a lot more closely with the land and see they were practicing stewardship,” Murphy said.

“Stewardship has always been around, but right now, we need it so much, we are defining it.”

Hands-on experience

Murphy talked about her own firsthand experience as a child, when she would gut smelt and get hands-on experience with nature.

“I felt so fortunate to learn this when I was young, through my hands, through my mouth, it went into my body,” she said.

“I didn’t learn it on TV or through an iPhone application or an iPad application, and it is experience that made me an environmental steward.”

Murphy said the marine science center continues that process.

“Today, it’s a little harder for people to have these experiences for a variety of reasons, but this is what the marine science center does,” she said.

“We give young people experiences that facilitate their sense of connectedness to the land and the sea.”

Marine ecosystem

“The Salish Sea [Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca and the San Juan Islands as well as British Columbia’s Gulf Islands and the Strait of Georgia] has one of the highest-producing marine ecosystems in the world,” Gaydos said.

“We have probably 3,000 different species of macro-invertebrates, and a lot of them are the world’s biggest and baddest and best.”

This includes a diversity of salmon species and the world’s largest anemone.

“When you scuba dive in an area like this, you feel like you are in a cathedral,” he said.

Stopps, who is credited with establishing Protection Island as a wildlife ­refuge, also attended the ceremony.

“I am very proud to have an award named after me and am happy to learn that it will be continued far into the future,” she said.

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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.