By Scott Wong

Renowned Bay Area environmentalist Huey Johnson said what the world needs now is a “second wave” of open space stewardship.

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, and Mary Stegner, wife of the late Stanford University professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner, awarded Johnson, the first Mary and Wallace Stegner Award for Environmental Stewardship Nov. 17 at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills.

Eshoo said to a crowd of about 50 supporters that it was “humbling” to read aloud Johnson’s record, which includes the prestigious 2001 United Nations Environment Program Sasakawa Environment Prize and a Presidential Honor given by the President’s Council on Sustainable Development.

“Huey Johnson’s whole life should be instructive to each one of us,” Eshoo said.

Johnson devoted more than 40 years to local and global environmental protection and management. As Western regional director of The Nature Conservancy, his work spanned more than 50 projects, including the preservation of Hawaii’s Seven Sacred Pools and Los Altos Hills’ Byrne Preserve.

In May 1967, Dr. Albert M. Byrne, a resident of Los Altos Hills, donated 55 acres to the Nature Conservancy under Johnson’s direction, shortly before Byrne’s death.

“I promised him that we would use every last breath and every last dollar to carry out his wishes,” Johnson said.

He had an important revelation earlier this year when some Los Altos Hills council members suggested the sale of town-owned properties, like Westwind Barn which sits on Byrne Preserve, be further explored.

“Recently, I began to understand what was needed,” Johnson said, “not the continuation of acquisition (of open space), but the start of a second wave of stewardship.

“To pass on our heritage is the crown jewel of human endeavor,” he added.

The award ceremony was followed by a forum on the role of local government and citizens in the protection of open space. The forum was co-sponsored by numerous organizations including the League of Women Voters of Los Altos-Mountain View Area Midpeninsual Open Space District and the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society.