Kuehl names Harris ‘Woman of the Year’

Environmentalist Jean Harris has been named by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) as the district’s Woman of the Year. The award is presented annually by each state senator and assemblymember to a woman with an exemplary track record of community service, who has made an outstanding contribution to her district and to California. Kuehl chose Harris for her work as an environmentalist.

Harris is a long-term leader in the effort to preserve the beaches of Oxnard. She was instrumental in the successful campaign to purchase the 65-acre property that became the Oxnard Beach Park as well as the effort to preserve property at 5th and Harbor that became public parkland.

As Chair of the League of Women Voters’ Environmental/Land Use committee, Harris was key to the development of an action plan that included proposals for maintaining air and water quality and conserving water and energy. Out of that committee grew the League’s Agricultural Task Force, which Harris also chaired. The task force conducted a study that included interviews with people connected to agriculture and farming all over the country. From that study, a soil conservation service plan was developed and presented to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, who have moved to implement it.