Dawn Olson: Working for the environment

By Kathy Cook Hunter

Dawn Olson is driven to community service and environmental protection. “Volunteering your time is finding out where your heart belongs,” she said.

Olson, 51, moved to Silverton in 1985 with her husband, Barry, who grew up in the town. The two met and married while they were in the U.S. Navy.

A New Hampshire native, Olson had parents who were active in the community as members of Kiwanis, Masons, Eastern Star and Shriners, and as a girl she became a Candy Striper at a hospital, helped with parking at town events and went on camping outings, she said.

“In the Navy in Bermuda I volunteered to take people out on horseback rides and worked with ecologists,” Olson said. “Even getting some of my jobs [later] was through volunteering, such as at the Oregon Zoo and the Oregon Health Science University’s genetics lab.”

She is currently employed in scientific research on osteoporosis at Oregon State University.
Olson devotes her volunteer time to her main interests, habitat restoration and environmental preservation.

In 1992, she joined Silverton’s chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, known for its conservation efforts since 1922 when enthusiastic anglers named it for one of history’s most famous fishermen, Izaak Walton.

The local chapter’s best-known event is Free Fish Day, this year on Saturday, June 12, at Silverton Reservoir.

They started the children’s event in the early 1990s by buying the fishing poles and lures to loan out.

“That’s a major day for us,” Olson said. “We supply volunteers but now other organizations, Silverton Together, Silverton Kiwanis and Lions and city employees help out.”

Olson led her chapter in many of its activities, filling the duties of president/secretary; as well as participating on a regional and national basis. She serves on the national executive board, is the division president and chairs the national awards committee, among other offices.

Olson has appeared at the Oregon Legislature, educating legislators and government agencies about invasive plant species, endangered plant and wildlife species, habitat restoration and endangered fisheries.

What drew her to Izaak Walton League, she said, was “they did a lot of things I like to do – camping, stream cleanup and habitat restoration such as reconstructing wetlands or riparian areas. I found that the league tries to work with people and everybody has to be involved with decision making. That’s part of what the league is all about.”

Olson leads many of her chapter’s projects, including the biannual Silver Creek cleanup where in the spring and fall members clean trash from Silverton Reservoir to below the James Street Bridge.

“We work where the owners will allow,” Olson said. “We also clean up or pick up trash at Coolidge- McClaine Park. We encourage the Scouts and other teens to help with this, using Silverton Together as a means of getting the word out. We usually have about 20 people.”

The chapter donates $500 yearly at Robert Frost School for use in the on-site garden, bought binoculars for the bird-watching club, replaced the garden watering system and sponsors an essay contest for sixth-graders.

“The kids like to write about the butterfly project and their bird-watching,” Olson said. “We give gift certificates to three places in the girls’ and the boys’ divisions. We also helped buy many books for the school.”

In addition, they helped fund Silver Falls School District’s outdoor school when it was started.

The chapter contributes to Earth Day at The Oregon Garden. “We help with $300 to $500 every year,” she said.

The chapter, comprised of 12 men and women, supports its activities from the sale of a shooting range it had owned. The endowment’s principle is never used, only the interest, said Olson, and the group is frugal.

Considering local, division and national committees she works with, Olson says she averages 180 hours and about 50,000 miles in air and auto travel per year.

“I support her 100 percent,” said Barry Olson, who is also a chapter officer.

Molly O’Brien, a friend of 10 years, says Dawn Olson is special.

“I think it’s her commitment to make the Earth better than when we came,” O’Brien said. “And it’s not just a commitment, it’s a calling she has. She has unlimited energy to follow through with projects.”