COURTESY OFAUBREYRUSSELL
On her last trip to the gorge, Nancy visited the first property she and her husband purchased for protection there, in about 1984.
“Nancy believed that the ultimate protection was
public ownership. She inspired us, introduced
us to donors, and would occasionally fund the
work herself.”
—TPL’s Bowen Blair
Friends became the leading public advocate for sound
policy and regulation in the gorge, while Russell herself
functioned as a one-woman land trust. With her
husband’s financial backing, she bought for protection
every scenic gorge property she could get her hands
on—a total of 33 parcels and more than 600 acres.
And she forged a partnership with TPL to work
toward acquisition of the most scenic and endangered
properties in the gorge by state and federal public land
agencies, chiefly the U.S. Forest Service. “Nancy believed
that the ultimate protection was public ownership,” says
Bowen Blair. “She served as TPL’s scout, knew the
best properties, and would turn us loose on them. She
inspired us, introduced us to donors, and would occasionally fund the work herself.”
“In every project there was a constellation of partners,
and in every one of those constellations, the brightest star
was Nancy,” notes Alan Front, TPL’s senior vice president
of federal affairs and public policy. “From the very beginning, we at TPL were foot soldiers, but she really orchestrated and inspired the campaign to protect these lands.”
RETURN TO CAPE HORN
Through 20 years of accomplishment, Nancy always
remembered Cape Horn, the building lots there that got
away, and the house that blocked public access to some of
the best views from the gorge’s Washington side. Finally,
through negotiations by TPL, Friends of the Columbia
Gorge last spring succeeded in buying the only house ever
built at Rim View Estates, and over the next few months,
