December 18, 2025, Seward Folly

HOMER, ALASKA (December 15, 2025) – Kachemak Heritage Land Trust (KHLT) is proud to
announce the 2025 recipient of its annual Kingmaker Award: Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (KBNERR).

The Kingmaker Award is presented annually to individuals or organizations that have made significant commitment to salmon conservation efforts, contributing to the preservation and protection of salmon in the Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet regions.

Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (KBNERR) was chosen for its pivotal role in research, education, and coastal resource management. KBNERR provides essential data and collaborative educational programs that inform local policy and enhance the public’s understanding of critical issues affecting the Kachemak Bay ecosystem and the salmon that call its waterways home. Their work provides the foundational knowledge necessary for long-term land and water protection and monitoring, making them an indispensable partner in KHLT’s conservation work on the Kenai Peninsula.

“Here at the Pratt Museum, we are deeply appreciative of the role that KBNERR plays in our local community and the ecosystem at large,” said Yarrow Hinnant, Curator of Botanical Exhibits at the Pratt Museum. “We have found the staff at KBNERR to be resourceful and highly motivated, bringing excitement and momentum (as well as science) to classrooms, local naturalist trainings, and education events.

“We are all part of the web of this community, and KBNERR is an essential strand in that web, one that supports and encourages the work that we love to do. Our partnership with KBNERR and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center highlights the ways we can thrive together. By offering students insight into their local peatlands through the lens of specific plants, we are working together to expand ways of seeing the world and experiencing being in a specific place that we all call home.”

“KHLT is honored to work in multiple capacities with KBNERR for many years,” said Marie McCarty, Executive Director of KHLT. “Our partnership developed over time to incorporate on-the-ground outreach with our joint Fish Need Land Too trips, as inspired by KHLT Board member and commercial fisherman, Hannah Heimbuch. Over the years, we have taken people from all walks of life onto peatlands, sharing the land’s unique qualities and learning to look and learn about the biological components of peatlands. Most recently, we are partnering with the City of Homer and KBNERR to acquire important conservation land by working with KBNERR staff, the KBNERR Community Council and the City. This partnership represents the significance of each organization contributing to a good whole, with each organization sharing what they do best to ensure land important to the City of Homer is preserved for the future.”

The Kingmaker Award was presented to Katherine Schake, KBNERR manager, and Ingrid Harrald, KBNERR Education Coordinator, during the annual KHLT Meeting of the Members on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. The event was hosted at The Porcupine Theatre and was followed by a free showing of “Local Hero.”

Funding for the 2025 Kingmaker Award was provided, in part, by a Dept. of Environmental Conservation Alaska Clean Water Actions grant 25-02.

About Kachemak Heritage Land Trust

Founded in 1989, Kachemak Heritage Land Trust collaborates with landowners, institutions, and community members to protect and preserve lands with significant natural, recreational, or cultural value on the Kenai Peninsula. In 2025, KHLT surpassed over 4,000 acres protected, in perpetuity.