Dick Slagle
Dick Slagle of Republic is a life-long conservationist in northeastern Washington State.
A lifetime for wilderness
A retired third-generation Republic pharmacist, Dick Slagle has spent much of his life exploring and speaking out in favor of preserving wild forests in the Kettle River Range in Ferry County, Washington.
In the fall of 1976, Dick joined with other conservationists to form Kettle Range Conservation Group (now merged with Conservation Northwest), serving as its board president and on its advisory board. He considers himself lucky, after eight decades, to still live in the place of his birth.
Eighty years gives one a long perspective. During World War II, Dick served in the U.S. Army in Europe. He says that during those years he had one escape—his photograph of White Mountain in the Kettles.
“I could look at it and relive the quiet and solitude of the wilderness, the sunsets, the sound of the coyotes, but above all, the absence of stress. It was a great comfort to me because I knew that it would always be there, and I knew that I could always return to it.”
