Nancy Malmgren and her late husband Les Malmgren are winners of the Fourth Annual Denny Awards for their volunteer service benefiting Carkeek Park.

The award was presented during a ceremony held by Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Ken Bounds last week at Seattle City Hall.

"I felt really grateful, " said Malmgren after receiving the award.

The Malmgrens have dedicated 35 years to restoring Carkeek Park and the Piper's Creek Watershed, which runs through it. Les passed away in April this year.

Nancy has received awards from the Washington State Ecological Commission (1992) and the Washington State Department of Ecology (2003) for her work.

Two years ago, Nancy attended the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Carkeek Park Environmental Learning Center and was surprised to be honored with an Environmental Excellence Award.

"In all the work we've done, we've tried to develop clean water. Both Les and I are clean water act supporters," said Nancy.

Using $4,500 in seed money from the Clean Water Act, the Malmgrens, along with Ted Mohldendorph, started the Carkeek Park Watershed Community Action Partnership in 1979. The group was recognized with an award from the State of Washington in 1984.

With a small group of volunteers, the watershed group lead started doing education, outreach and habitat restoration.

The Malmgrens spent as much as 40 hours a week reinforcing stream channels, piling sandbags and removing salmon barriers. Les was known for his resourcefulness coming up with solutions to problems.

By the late 1980s, the watershed improvement efforts paid off when hundreds of chum salmon returned to the park's streams. Prior to that, the salmon were abundant only until the 1920s.

The Malmgren home has two cabinets in the dining room full of paperwork on Carkeek Park and the Carkeek Park Watershed Community Action Partnership. Two bedrooms of their house overlooking the park are also filled with boxes of old documents.

"There's lots of paperwork and regulations. Les handled all the technical aspects of the paperwork," said Nancy.

As the first Carkeek Park "stewards," the Malmgrens helped bring back salmon to the streams, mentored thousands of visiting school children, worked with neighbors, non-profit groups and governmental agencies on behalf of the park.

One of their developments was the park's imprint pond filled with chum salmon fry from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Minter Creek Hatchery. Volunteers feed and care for the fry while get acclimated to the smell and taste of the creek so they are able to return to the steams.

Two weeks ago, the first salmon of the year were seen returning to the streams of Carkeek Park. The Les Malmgren Salmon Fund has been established in his memory.

Money donated to the fund will be used for maintenance and to bring school kids to the park.

"I hope the fund will bring a diversity of kids to the park. There are lots of kids on free or reduced fee lunches in the north end and around the city," Nancy said.

Scholarships will help kids who want to come and be salmon stewards, but can't afford the transportation costs or boots said Nancy.

Charles and Carolyn Jackson of the Judkins Neighborhood, Jerry Russo of Southeast Seattle and the Longfellow Creek Watershed Council Stewards in West Seattle also received Denny Awards.