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HADLEY - Alexandra D. Dawson, 80, passed away peacefully at home Dec. 30, 2011. Alexandra was known, respected, and loved for a long career of distinguished service as a lawyer, educator and advocate on behalf of the New England environment.

Born and raised on a farm in Maryland, she graduated from Barnard College and obtained her doctorate in law from Harvard University in 1966. Early in her career she chose to work for the environment and always saw it as her client. Starting with the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), where she was the first paid employee, she answered phone calls about environmental and land use law.

She loved this direct hands-on problem solving and continued it in various settings throughout her life. In 1971 she authored the first comprehensive legal text for attorneys on Massachusetts Environmental Law, published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Inc. (MCLE).

She left CLF to work for the Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council as their first general counsel and director of land use regulation. In 1980 she became co-director of the Water Supply Citizens Advisory Committee, and later executive director. In 1981 she was instrumental in the creation of the environmental program at Antioch University Graduate School in Keene, N.H., and served as director of the Resource Management and Administration Program for over a decade.

She wrote and published the book "Land Use Planning and the Law" in 1982. She was an emeritus professor at Antioch, and also taught at Tufts University, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Her teaching inspired a multitude of students committed to the environment and dedicated to making a difference. Many of them are now environmental professionals in the Valley.

No major environmental issue escaped Alexandra's attention. She served on countless state and regional committees, helping to draft key environmental legislation, including the state Sanitary Code (Title 5) and the Forest Cutting Practices Act.

Highway design standards and their environmental implications, biomass and its impact on forests, development and the loss of wetlands and the impacts of septic systems and sewers - whatever affected the environment caused her to think deeply and find a way to intervene in a practical and forceful defense of the environment.

She was president of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC) from 1985 to 1988, served on the board of directors from 1977 to 2003 and as director of legal affairs until 2010. She was the volunteer coordinator of the MACC Western Outreach Office. She was an active member of the MACC helpline, answering wetland and open space protection legal questions, up to her death.

During her tenure at MACC she authored or co-authored every edition of the definitive MACC Environmental Handbook for Massachusetts Conservation Commissioners from 1973 through 2006, wrote numerous advocacy letters and newsletter articles, taught innumerable workshops and conferences, reviewed and critiqued proposed laws and regulations and prepared many amicus briefs.

During the time spent at meetings she also produced handmade quilts for friends, and for several years she donated a quilt to be auctioned at the Annual Environmental Conference to benefit MACC, which established in 2001 the Alexandra Dawson Legal Education and Action Fund.

Sep. 9, 2001 was declared Alexandra Dawson Day by Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift, to honor her.

Alexandra served on the Board of the Kestrel Trust for nearly 20 years and was active in many environmental organizations, including the Thoreau and then Pioneer Valley chapters of the Sierra Club. In 2006 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented her with its Environmental Merit Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Alexandra also was an important force locally, especially in her hometown of Hadley. She joined the Hadley Conservation Commission in 1985 and served as chair from 1993 until her death. She authored the Hadley wetlands bylaw and regulations, and expanded her focus on wetland protection to include Hadley farmland.

During her tenure on the Conservation Commission she actively supported farmers in their applications to the state Agricultural Protection Restriction (APR) program, resulting in over 2500 acres of permanently protected farmland in town. Thanks to Alexandra's commitment, Hadley has the highest number of acres of APR farmland in Massachusetts. One of her ideas, implemented by The Kestrel Trust, was the "Forever Farmland" signs seen around the Valley. She was also one of the original supporters and a current member of the Hadley Community Preservation Act Committee, which provided much of the matching funds needed for the farmland APRs since its establishment in 2006.

She hiked, camped, biked, canoed and kayaked with family and friends locally and across the United States and Canada. Until a year ago, she was frequently seen bicycling around town, and as recently as this fall she was kayaking with a friend.

She and her husband Jim canoed the length of the Connecticut River and kayaked all the perennial streams in Hadley. A conservation area was named in her honor next to the dike on North Lane in 1998.

Alexandra will be deeply missed by her family, friends and colleagues. She leaves her husband of 56 years, James Dawson, and their three children, Rachel, Alexander and Adam, his wife and two grandchildren.

Burial will be private and at the convenience of the family.

Memorial gifts may be made in Alexandra's name to the Kestrel Land Trust, P.O. Box 1016, Amherst, MA 01004, dedicated to land protection in Hadley and the region.