© Tim Coleman
Located in Ferry County, Washington, the Kettle Range encompasses the most breathtaking views one could ever wish to find. With its unique landscape of high ridges rising from the lowlands of the Columbia River Basin, rolling meadows populated with colorful wildflowers, and Kettle Crest’s mountain peaks that range from 6,000 to 7,000 feet, the Kettle Range provides wild habitat for a plethora of wildlife species, including cougar, lynx, bobcat, black bear, fisher, wolverine and elk. The ancient forests and the vast range of species found in the northern territory of Washington are testament to the value of the Kettle Range.
Conservationists have worked diligently to protect this wild gem, but one individual truly stands out in this effort. Born and raised in Ferry County, Dick Slagle has devoted his life to conserving the Kettle Range Mountains. He had an intrinsic appreciation for the northern Washington wilderness throughout his childhood, but as he grew up he began to educate himself on both the scientific and political issues concerning the environment, and used this knowledge to help protect the Kettle Range and its wildlife.
Wildflowers on White Mountain; © Tim Coleman
Tim Coleman of Conservation Northwest has had the opportunity to work closely with Dick Slagle and the Kettle Range Conservation Group, and says Dick is an inspiration because he has “stood out in a rural community -- where standing out isn’t necessarily highly valued.” Coleman adds, “Dick has championed the cause of wilderness, and his passion for it has never waivered,” explaining that Dick ”is an inspiration to me, and always has been because of his perseverance and his love for the land.”
In 1976 Dick co-founded the Kettle Range Conservation Group, and continues to be an inspiration for all conservationists working to protect wilderness. The Kettle Range Conservation Group has maintained the same mission for over thirty years -- to protect the Kettle Range through wilderness designation. The group has been able to increase capacity and attract publicity and raise awareness about the Kettle Range area to conserve this precious Washington wild place.
Dick recalls a memory of a coworker who acknowledged that it was sometimes slow going, “but she’d always remind us to keep on fighting and that’s what we did.” That thinking never left his work for the environment, and although he is long retired, Dick Slagle still inspires conservationists to keep up the fight.
Slagle’s career began after college, when he worked as a Forest Service lookout on the White Mountain (a part of the Kettle River Range) in the summer of 1942, just before he was called to serve in the Army. He served as a medic in Europe during World War II, and throughout his four years of service kept close to him a picture he had taken of the White Mountain. “It was a beautiful picture,” Mr. Slagle describes. “Park-like setting in the fount of the mountain; grassy slopes, clumps of evergreen and the background was the mountain. I took the picture with me so I was able to look at it once in a while and just remember what it was like.” He says the picture “was worth a lot just to be able to think of it and know that eventually I would get up there and look at it again.”
And that’s exactly what he did. After serving in the military, Dick returned to northeastern Washington, yet his focus was on providing for his family. His life never led him back to the summit of the White Mountain until very recently. At the prime age of 89, Slagle recently hiked two and a half miles up White Mountain to visit the old lookout site of so many thoughtful moments and sunny memories. “It was more strenuous, I’ll admit,” he chuckled, “but I really enjoyed it -- because after 66 years I had kind of forgotten just how grand it is looking down into the deep valleys and up to the great mountains.” Dick was joyfully surprised at the “profusion of wildflowers” he encountered on his journey to the summit.
It is no wonder that Dick Slagle dedicated his life working to protect such a beloved wild area, and it is with great pride that he watches the fight to protect the Kettle Range expand and strengthen. Today, The Kettle Range Conservation Group has evolved and joined forces with Conservation Northwest, which works with local community coalitions to to achieve a balanced approach to forest management, including protecting wilderness. Conservation Northwest, following the vision of The Kettle Range Conservation Group, is working to protect our wilderness heritage embodied in wild forests of the Kettle River Range. Slagle explains that “it was the younger generation of my time that worked with me to get The Kettle Range Conservation Group started, and it is the younger generation that will keep environmental movements thriving.” As a true motivation to all conservation efforts, Mr. Slagle is hopeful for what is to come in the future, “as long as we keep on fighting.”
We salute his lifetime of conservation achievements.
