Cover photo courtesy of Carl Barrentine
Washington Wild announced in September that longtime Spokane conservation advocate Jeff Lambert was named the 2025 recipient of the Karen M. Fant Conservation Award. The annual honor recognizes volunteers who demonstrate exceptional grassroots leadership in protecting Washington’s wild lands and waters. For more than three decades, Lambert has worked to conserve open spaces and natural areas across the Spokane region through groups such as the Spokane Mountaineers, Friends of the Bluff and Dishman Hills Conservancy.
His work has advanced roadless-area protections, watershed restoration and the safeguarding of state forest lands. Most recently, Lambert helped lead the campaign to protect the 200-acre Thorpe property in west Spokane, a Washington Department of Natural Resources parcel once slated for housing development. His coalition-building efforts—alongside nearly 100 statewide partners—helped halt the proposed sale and reopen the path to preserving the land as a future city park. “Jeff embodies the spirit of grassroots conservation leadership that the Karen M. Fant Award was created to honor,” said Washington Wild executive director Tom Uniack.
