Digging Deeper with Dana Ward

Dana Ward has served as President of  Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society for the past two years. He volunteers in the Tri-Cities community to advocate for earth stewardship and responsible land management choices. When not meeting with fellow naturalists, Dana can be found riding his bicycle along the Heritage Trail, running a footrace, or birding anywhere. This interview is condensed from a 40 minute conversation.

How did your childhood influence your life of environmental conservation?

I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania picking up trash along the roads and practicing the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) daily. My siblings and I learned to love nature from a young age. Each June, Dad would set up our tent in a state park about 20 miles from home, and leave it in place for the summer. We would cross two mountains to spend weekends, sometimes entire weeks, at our camp. 

With a lake to play around in, squirrels traversing the tent roof, trails, and fish to catch, we bonded deeply with nature. We collected wild foods: blueberries, hickory nuts, walnuts, and strawberries. Dad trapped muskrats, mink, and raccoons through the winter. When I was eight, my dad and his brother decided to build a cabin in the state forest so we could live there all year ‘round. Though my father never got a high school education, my uncle was a Doctor of Forestry who taught at Penn State. Together, they harvested hard blight-stricken chestnut logs which we helped skin with drawing knives. Those logs became rafters and supports, knotty pine completed. The whole cabin cost a few thousand dollars to build, but was labor intensive for all of us. 

One day, I opened the wood box and out jumped a flying squirrel! It scurried up the porch post and flew off into the woods. I knew flying squirrels existed, but I had no idea they lived with us. When I was in my 20s, an arsonist burned down the cabin, so I helped rebuild on the same foundation with more salvaged chestnut logs. The perfect quiet of this place served as a retreat for weekend studies while I attended college.

My friend Steve and I created our own nature studies lab by resurrecting a little cabin on a tiny island. We got to the island in a flat bottom boat his dad built with a sheet of plywood, and spent weekends studying — wood stove at one end, bunk beds at the other, and windows all along the wall between. This was so ideal, even periodic flooding couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm.

Beginning when I was about 16, Steve and I hiked the Appalachian Trail. I just got used to loving nature, getting out and walking to see everything from that trail. When we did a week-long hike, our parents would drop us off and then pick us up a week later at a different point. 

Hiking along as college students, I challenged Steve: “We ought to do something spectacular.”

“What do you think we ought to do?”

“Well, we could hike the entire 2400-mile trail.”

“But that would take more than just the summer, because we're both in college.”

“Okay, let's go to Yellowstone and backpack for the summer.”

I was 23 in 1974 when we decided to backpack for three months in Yellowstone. What an adventure that was, with black bears, grizzly bears, and elk. 

How have you become knowledgeable about the natural world?

In high school, I loved studying rocks, minerals, and biology. In college, I pursued a unique degree called GeoEnvironmental Studies, a field biology / field geology classroom. My Yellowstone backpack experience informed a paper I wrote for credit about the geology and biology of the area.

Who has most influenced your nature-based values?

My parents, Edward Abbey, Rachel Carson, and Barry Lopez’ books Arctic Dreams and Home Ground.  I met him at a book signing in Spokane, and I think he's one of our great naturalists.

How does your naturalist intelligence inform your adult life?

Working for the Department of Energy, I was in charge of the public safety and Resource Protection Program, covering all the incredible biological and cultural resources of the Hanford Site. The process of siting the Horse Heaven Hills wind farm is informed today by the work I did. As a volunteer on their technical group, I now advise them on siting their wind turbines and solar fields. Thirty years a member of our local Audubon chapter, I led their conservation efforts with Rick Leaumont for many years and have been president for the past couple years. I’ve established my trust so that the Nature Conservancy will get a big share, as I appreciate their goal of protecting habitat by purchasing or placing covenants on the land.

Describe your perfect natural setting.

Flowing water, small stream or spring, with large and small trees, far from human sounds.

Where did your interest in birds originate?

“Dr. Grove, the principal of your high school, is a birder,” my mom informed me. “He can recognize birds off at a distance just by their silhouette. Doesn't even have to see their colors. He's going to do what's called a Christmas Bird Count.”

“Is that done on Christmas Day?” I asked.

“No. Christmas Bird Count is done for a couple weeks. Why don't you contact Dr. Grove and see if you can accompany him?” 

He invited me to ride along with him. We drove through a ravine where some eastern bluebirds flew over. I'd never seen them before.

“Holy cow, are they pretty!” was my eureka moment. From that moment, I started casually birding. Following high school graduation, I headed west. Arriving in Pierre, South Dakota, I first joined and became active in the Audubon Society.

What do you enjoy most in your role as president of Audubon?

I really like working with capable, enthusiastic people who run out of time rather than run out of things that they can do.

What's your ‘go-to’ connection with nature? 

It varies from time to time. I walk when I can. Yesterday, under stress with this cold, I went down to the base of McNary Dam, a wonderful place. It's got maybe two miles of trails, five or six ponds, boardwalks and bridges, and it's underutilized. I walked there for two hours and saw maybe three other people.

As elders who have spent our lives in stewardship to the planet, how can we give young people hope? What can you give them to hang on to, something to build on for themselves?

My abiding theme is this: Be always mindful that you are part of nature and not above it. Those who think nature will take care of itself — that we humans dominate nature — are wrong. We're part of nature, you know? Oxygen is not made by man, and we all need oxygen.