Archives West Finding Aid

Stephen Trimble (b. 1950) was born to Isabelle Brinig and Donald Trimble in Colorado. Trimble describes his parents as staunch advocates of education, avowed atheists, and “intolerant of stupidity.”

Trimble describes his adolescence in Colorado as a painful period. An academic and voracious reader, Trimble reflects on his teenage years as a period of social exclusion. Graduating high school in 1968 as valedictorian, Trimble received a Boettcher Scholarship for his collegiate studies. That fall, Trimble enrolled in coursework at Colorado College, a small liberal arts school in Colorado Springs, majoring in psychology. Trimble used his undergraduate studies to explore the environment of the American West, developing a group of likeminded friends with whom he explored. In the summer of 1970, Trimble and friends embarked on several month bicycle trip throughout Europe. Traveling through France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Holland, Italy, Greece, and finely England, Trimble remembers this trip as a coming of age experience.

Trimble’s early experience as a professional environmentalists began with his tenure as a student researcher studying Pikes Peak’s bighorn Sheep with the United States Forest Service. Arguing against the construction of a backcountry road, Trimble remembers this experience as the germ that grew into his long and full career as an environmentalist. Following his graduation from college Trimble became employed as a Student Conservation Associate with the National Park Service in Olympic National Park. This experience increased Trimble’s competency with the wilderness. During this time period Trimble rustled with the idea of entering a Pre-Med education, but decided that the hard sciences were not the route for him. Following his tenure at Olympic National Park, Trimble became employed as a full time Park Ranger at Arches National Park. Trimble reflects on his adventures in the park, noting his first experience with environmental public speaking.

Following this, Trimble was accepted as a Sierra Club scholar to join the Charles Darwin Research Institute. Quitting his job at Arches National Park, Trimble excitedly joined the summer research program in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador studying sea birds. Trimble remembers this experience as disappointing, noting the mismanagement of the program. Despite his disappointment, events on this trip would come to shape his future career. While on this research mission, Trimble became friends with Gary Nabhan, noted environmental author and food advocate, with whom Trimble would collaborate with in the book Geography of Childhood. After the Galapagos, Trimble lingered as a research assistant for the Bureau of Land Management in Denver, before becoming employed as a full-time park ranger in Great Sand Dunes National Monument. During his time at Great Sands, Trimble was assigned to write his first book providing an interpretation of the park (Great Sand Dunes National Monument: The Shape of the Winds. Western National Parks Association, Tucson. 1975). Throughout the seventies Trimble continued to work and write throughout the Southwest.