Remembering Polly Dyer

Guest blog by Tony Angell

Polly Dyer (North Cascades Conservation Council)

Amid the SALISHSEANEWS the reference to Polly's death [Polly Dyer, driving force for Northwest conservation, dead at 96] was the most evocative and powerful in it's own way -- a match for Polly herself.  Quite unlike another leader in the environmental movement, Hazel Wolf, Polly was content to remain a subtle but a pervasive force and never sought center stage.  She had a great influence on me as many educators began the environmental education programs here in Washington.  She advised, wrote letters and invited my presence at meetings and events that fashioned and strengthened my abilities in the field.  I saw her influence on environmental matters well into her nineties or so it seemed.  How timely that her death is a reminder what an individual can do to contribute time, energy and ideas toward restoring, preserving and stewarding nature -- the very foundation of our being.  With the challenges ahead Polly's memory will be called upon again and again for inspiration and determination.  We will prevail.

Artist and author Tony Angell was head of the Office of Environmental Education of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction of Washington State for over thirty years. He was active in the Nature Conservancy as chairman and as a member of the board of its Washington State chapter.