Dick Young, Illinois naturalist and inspirational environmental
leader has died on Sunday at age 86. In 2008 I had the gift of interviewing him
at his home personally. Below is a record of our conversation which I found
deeply personal and moving - a story I felt important to tell in memory of him. Dick was an inspirational man; teaching the world
about eco-environmental concerns long before it was popular and he will be
sorely missed. This post is my salute to Dick and his amazing life.
For many who get involved in practicing conservation, it is a simple choice
of doing what is right. By living life the "right" way, a person can feel
healthier and be healthier every day. No one knows this more than 83 year old
Dick Young. He believes that hard work and doing the right thing is what has
kept him "young" both emotionally and physically. He is a man who has suffered
unimaginable stress and who ultimately found peace in becoming a naturalist and
environmental supporter.
When I went to meet Young at his Fox River home in Oswego, Illinois in 2008,
I was amazed at his list of accomplishments in life and wondered how he was able
to do the hundreds of conservation related projects in his lifetime. Young was
quick to point out that life is short and he has done everything one step at a
time. He has lived a full and happy life although his life has not always been
trouble-free, but it has been well-rounded and satisfactory because he has
followed a simple formula when completing each step: Do what is right.
His move into this ecologically-based career started slowly and gradually
evolved. When he was a child he was influenced by his father, Dwight Young, who
was a carpenter before the war. Young's father become a nuclear scientist
connected to the Manhattan project and was one of the first core scientists at
Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory. Dwight Young believed in hard work and
in using creativity to find solutions. According to Young, he also developed the
first altimeter which helped save many American lives. His scientific work
played an important role in making the United States a world power. It, at
times, was also destructive to nature. Dwight Young's son, the youthful Dick
Young, was perhaps because of his father's career experience, taught the
responsibility of stewardship of the land and every individual's responsibility
to help assist and balance nature.
When he was old enough, only a boy really, Pearl Harbor was bombed and Young
went into the Marine's in defense of his country. Young enjoyed nature and being
outdoors. He often ran and while stationed at Oceanside, California, Young won
multiple contests for speed running. He soon won the regiment prize and the
recognition of his commander. Young was asked to carry the phone equipment and
be a runner at the fighting front during World War II. Several Navajo Indians
were a part of Dick's company and he explained how he worked in conjunction with
them to send and receive secretly coded messages in the Navajo language.
(To continue reading this story, please click the link below - it will expand the page. Thank you.)
He told me the heart wrenching story of how he helped win Iwo Jima. There
were two flag-raisings on Mount Suribachi during the Iwo Jima conflict; Young
was at the first flag raising. The second has become a now famous Associated
Press photograph. It was a bloody event which Young remembers in vivid detail. I
sat on the edge of my seat with tears in my eyes as Young told the story of how
virtually every member of his platoon was killed.
He said that his experiences in World War II helped him see life more
clearly. When he came back after seeing such devastation, both from a human and
environmental perspective, Young decided to live life placing the importance of
values and family first; in other words, Young believed in doing the right
thing. After seeing such horrible destruction, Young wanted to come back to his
precious Fox River and live life on its green banks with his family.
When he returned from the war, he and his family worked to build their home
and their lives together. Young and his family built their home of recycled
stone which was given to Young after a large building had to come down. He
lifted and placed most of the stones himself, even when they weighed hundreds of
pounds. Young built the roof of his home with an eco-friendly idea in mind. They
made it of reinforced concrete and planted a garden on top of the house. The
plants functioned as an insulating factor and became a "Green Roof" before the
term was ever coined. Young has had the roof for over fifty-two years and is
quick to point out that his neighbor has replaced his traditional roof several
times in that period.
While I was visiting with Young I was able to walk on his green roof. It is
very beautiful in the summer and attracts hundreds of butterflies and birds. He has seen
herons, egrets, cardinals, woodpeckers, house finches and dozens of others come
to his home for refuge. His home resembles a "hobbit house" to me - a warm and
comfortable plant-covered residence - which he has built and maintained from
nearly all recycled products. Some of the items which fascinated me included a
recycled copper handrail he made himself and attached as a support when walking
to the upstairs area. The house is filled with knotty oak and a grapevine
ceiling molding which he found in nature. Most everything in the home has been
reused from another source and has an interesting history.
Over the years, Young gradually began implementing more and more conservation
ideas. For example, he is one of the first in the region to utilize grey water
on his property by pumping the bi-products of his two septic tanks out into a
large retention field that resembles a bioswale so the ground and plants might
filter it back to the water aquifer.
In every way, Young has lived a life which is centered around nature and his
family. From his creatively built home to the entire row of homes Young lives
on; they are all his children's houses. He is very close with his family and
they walk in and out of each others homes without knocking - they share their
time here on earth together. Young watches he granddaughter regularly and spends
lots of time building and growing in his relationships with his family. All his
grandchildren speak of and enjoy nature with him. I believe this is also part of
why his age does not seem to hold him back. Spending time outdoors, spending time
with family and doing the right thing is important to Young and his life is lead
by placing these things first.
Young had Scarlet Fever when he was ten years old which damaged his heart. He
ultimately had to have replacement valves made from a pig installed in his
heart. Yet Young would never let life be dictated by a mere heart surgery. He
always works to be the best he could be and has given the best of what he is to
his family and to nature. He also believes that all people should work towards
their education. Young has two Bachelors Degrees: one in Psychology and one in
Biology, as well as a Masters Degree in Community Planning. He has written a
book on nature for Kane County, Illinois and has been honored by having two
forest preserves in separate counties named after him. What he could not learn
about nature in the classroom, he learned on his own.
Without a doubt, Dick Young has gone above and beyond in his efforts as a
naturalist. What started his desire to be more heavily involved in nature was
when Young was spending time with his family down by the river. There was a
disgusting level of garbage on the banks and his children were playing with it.
That angered Young. He said, "It was so unhealthy and my family lived along the
river. We decided we were going to clean it up and make a difference!"
Eventually Young began to see how slowly government can move and how
difficult cleaning up and improving areas can be. Yet, he did not give up. More
and more people approached Young to have them help with various river clean-ups
due to sewer dumping and more. Every time Young came up against pollution and
habitat destruction, he fought it with everything he had and found a solution
for the community. I asked him why he dedicated so much of his life to river
improvement, landfill clean up, and forest preserve management and he said quite
simply, "It was the right thing to do." Seeing his children playing with garbage
stimulated a career which has lasted forty years and he still volunteers with
the Forest Preserves today.
Another amazing achievement for Young is that he scientifically studied and
learned all the native plant information he knows and has written about on his
own. He had some help along the way, but his passion to help with water and land
conservation spurred him on. He wanted his grandchildren and their grandchildren
to have the gift of seeing broad expanses of land as they have been for hundreds
and hundreds of years. An enormous achievement in this modern day of urban
sprawl. No one else was doing this and he saw the need, stepped in and made a
difference.
In 1987 Young retired. He continued on in his forest preserve and
environmental work. His book, Kane County Wild Plants & Natural Areas
is now in its third edition. In this book Young stresses conservation by using
water-saving native plants. In the book he says, "[the purpose of this book is]
to urge the protection of our native plants wherever they are found, to commend
the use of native material where appropriate in our plant communities and to
encourage a much wider diversity of all plants in the environments we shape and
influence."
Young has continued his work to study and improve local forest preserves for
nearly all of his adult life. He feels that volunteering and working with
conservation groups has enhanced his life as well as his health. He suggests
that all people get involved in their local community and work with nature and
conservation for better health. Although, according to Young, you can get many
physical benefits from being outdoors and working to conserve and be a steward
to the land, you can also, "gain emotional satisfaction from becoming more
conservation-oriented and by getting volunteers together in your community."
In 2001, the Forest Preserve District of Kane County Illinois renamed a 1,010
acre Forest Preserve, by far Kane County's Largest, after Dick Young. The Dick
Young Forest Preserve is home to a 10,000 year old marsh, a fen, as well as a
prairie, a savanna, a lake and more.
The second Forest Preserve named after him is in Kendall County. It is called
the Richard Young Forest Preserve and has about 172 acres of open space. There
are over 430 species of native plants in this very special preserve, with many
of them being rare or endangered. It is primarily an oak-maple woodland with
seeps, restored prairies and the wandering Lyon Creek.
Never before have two forest preserves been named after one man in the state
of Illinois. This honor is given to Young because of his tireless and life-long
conservation efforts in relationship to having clean air, water, and land for
the community and residents which live in Illinois.
Young's legacy has certainly been his dedication to the environment and to
the human race. In saving the earth's health, we are saving humans. In saving
the human's health, we are saving earth. It is a partnership which Young has
fully explored in his lifetime. He says it best in the preface of his book,
"...the human intellect and spirit still seek communion with a Natural Order as
revealed throughout recorded history, and certainly as important as saving
native plants is perpetuating these irreplaceable sanctuaries. If one treads
softly here, she or he can meld into the ageless unfolding natural drama and
find a measure of wisdom and contentment that transcends our feverish
accomplishments."
At the end of our interview I thanked Dick and asked him for his advice in inspiring my
readers to start practicing better conservation. Young says the best thing to do
is to begin practicing conservation simply and one step at a time beginning at
home. When you are ready, grow out into the larger community by joining groups
which are trying to help nature. He says that volunteering has been one of the
most emotionally rewarding experiences for him and he wants everyone to receive
those types of benefits from their community. His lifetime of physical activity
has helped him and he encourages you to be active too. Dick Young has lived a
life filled with the celebration of family, nature and community. He is
satisfied. He is healthy. You can be too. It all starts with doing the right
thing.
Filed under: Help Neighbors
Tags: conservation, Dick Young, eco, environmental, green, green living, green roof, inspiration, sustainable
