By Lauren McSherry

The League of Women Voters presented the Mary & Wallace Stegner Award for Environmental Stewardship to Lois Crozier Hogle, Feb. 6, during a forum on land preservation.

Hogle, a pioneer of the Peninsula’s environmental movement, is known as the first lady of the environment. The 90-year-old activist was honored for her lifetime commitment to open space preservation, the environmental organizations she founded and in recognition of her gift to the city of Los Altos Hills of her 11-acre property as a conservation easement.

About 70 people attended the event, including California State Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss, Los Altos Hills Mayor Mike O’Malley and Los Altos Hills Councilmen Breene Kerr and Jean Mordo. Hogle was presented with a plaque from the town of Los Altos Hills.

“It was fabulous,” said Nancy Couperus, Los Altos Hills Open Space Committee founder and Hogle’s longtime friend. “She received lots of recognition from the local political establishment. All in all it was a great success.”

Hogle recently set an unusual precedent in Los Altos Hills by establishing her 11-acre property as a conservation easement to be preserved in perpetuity. Although conservation easements have existed in Los Altos Hills since the early 1970s, what makes Hogle’s easement most unique is its size. Hers is one of the last remaining properties greater than 10 acres in the city, where high property values are leading to more subdivisions and fewer parcels of undeveloped land. Members of the city’s open space committee were instrumental in bringing the idea for the easement to fruition.

“Los Altos Hills should be commended for having an open space committee,” said Jane Turnbull of the League of Women Voters. “It’s exceptional because very few cities in the state sought to include that in their general plan and in their city structure.”