Donald Campbell, Directed National Forest In The 1970S

When he was director of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in the 1970s, Donald Campbell was called one of the 10 most important, but least known, people in Washington.

For nearly a decade, Mr. Campbell was top boss of Seattle's 1.7 million-acre "back yard," refereeing battles between environmentalists and industry over the future of a forest that stretched from Mount Rainier to the Canadian border. He counted Washington's two powerful senators, Warren Magnuson and Henry Jackson, as friends. He was even elected to REI's board of directors.

But through it all, Mr. Campbell kept a low profile. Maybe because what he really liked about his job wasn't the power or prestige, it was the forest.

"He was Smokey the Bear through and through," said his wife, Beverly Campbell. "He just loved being outdoors."

Mr. Campbell, 73, was on an 18-mile hike of Mount Rainier - he hiked weekly with a friend - when he died Thursday (Oct. 7) of a heart attack.

Beverly Campbell said she will remember her husband like this: hiking boots, forestry cap and the hand-carved walking stick he never went without.

"He was a tough bird," she said.

Mr. Campbell, who lived in Bellevue, retired from the Forest Service in 1980 rather than take a job in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Campbell considered himself an environmentalist, but the job demanded that he find a balance between those who wanted to preserve the forest and those who wanted to profit from its natural

resources.

"Logging, wilderness, herbicides - there is no way to sidestep conflict in this job," he told The Seattle Times in a 1981 interview. "The conflicts are very real, and we are the ones caught in the middle."

During his tenure from 1970 to 1980, Mr. Campbell oversaw the first major planning effort for the forest and was instrumental in acquiring the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. He was credited with encouraging greater public participation in decision-making. And he resisted pressure to open up pristine areas of the forest to logging.

Mr. Campbell took it as a compliment when once, during a broadcast debate, an audience member said he couldn't tell if Mr. Campbell was pro-environment or pro-logging.

"He wasn't in the pocket of the forest industry, but neither was he entirely our man," said Harvey Manning, a local environmental activist, author and a director of the North Cascades Conservation Council, which helped create the North Cascades National Park complex in 1968. "He listened when we talked; he listened to all viewpoints. I respected him greatly."

Born in Tampa, Mr. Campbell was an Army brat, spending most of his formative years in Texas and New Mexico.

He joined the Army during World War II, receiving the Purple Heart after he was injured by German shrapnel.

Though the wound bothered him for years, it never slowed Mr. Campbell. In 1951, he took his degree in forestry from Utah State University - where he met his wife - and headed for New Mexico to take a job with the federal Bureau of Land Management.

During the next seven years, he learned to speak Navajo while working with tribal members as a range manager. He eventually left government service and opened a trading post on reservation land.

But Beverly Campbell said her husband "couldn't contain himself within four walls," and soon left the store to take a job as a Forest Service ranger in central Oregon.

Living 80 miles from the nearest town, Prineville, wasn't Beverly Campbell's idea of fun. But her husband was happy and their two daughters loved the ranger's station.

Mr. Campbell's career with the Forest Service was a fast climb up the ranks, with stints in Corvallis as a manager and then as superintendent of the Okanogan National Forest in 1967.

Before and after his retirement, Mr. Campbell kept busy with work outside the Forest Service. He was a member of the executive council of the Boy Scouts, the Pacific Northwest Park/Forest Association and the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission. In the late 1970s, Mr. Campbell was elected to the board of directors for REI. He also was an active member of the Newport Presbyterian Church in Bellevue.

His ties to the community were such that the Campbells never gave thought to leaving Washington state after he retired.

"We just got mossy feet and webs between our toes," Beverly Campbell said. "Don loved the greenery and really loved the mountains and the lakes."

In addition to his wife, Mr. Campbell is survived by daughters, Debra Burchard of California, and Connie Campbell of Issaquah.

A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow at Newport Presbyterian Church.

J. Martin McOmber's phone-message number is 206-515-5628. His e-mail address is: mmcomber@seattletimes.com