Archives West Finding Aid

Conservationist Carl R. Dion was born in Minnesota in 1914. He became interested in forest conservation at the age of 10. Participation in a Boy Scout tree- planting project in 1929 prompted him to contact conservationist Willard Van Name of the American Museum of Natural History. Their friendship lasted until Van Name's death in 1959. Van Name took Dion with him on two expeditions to photograph old growth forest in Yosemite National Park (1931) and what would become Olympic National Park (1932). Dion returned to Yosemite many years later as a professional surveyor (Tuolumne Grove, 1966).

Carl Dion graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1938 with a B.S. in Forestry and a minor in Civil Engineering. In his early career he worked on engineering projects closely linked to forestry and conservation. These included work as as senior foreman with the Civilian Conservation Corps (1938-1940), and as a junior forester (1940-1941), both in Minnesota.

His later work took him farther from forestry. In 1948 he moved to North Richland, Washington, to work as a surveyor for General Electric. After 15 years of civil engineering work in the Tri-Cities and Spokane areas, Dion took a job with the Boeing Aerospace Company in approximately 1963. He was layed off in 1970.

In 1971 Dion became the arborist for the City of Seattle, a position he held until his retirement in 1980. He died in a traffic accident in May 1993.