Volunteer Spotlight: Bruce Livingston

By Liz Dalton

Bruce Livingston is one of the newer Capitol Land Trust (CLT) volunteers. He brings with him more than half a life time of wildlife photography: flora, fauna, water creatures, grasslands, birds on the wing, and all living things in nature. It is little wonder he now defines himself as an exuberant CLT volunteer.

Bruce made the decision to defer college and, like many in the 1960s, joined the US Air Force. He was trained as an Inventory Management Specialist and worked for 3 years in the Air Force Photo School in Denver, Colorado where he learned the intricacies of the field of photography. After serving 4 years in the military, with a year in Vietnam, he returned home to pursue a career in Wildlife Biology.

He returned to northern Michigan, married in 1971 and had two children. He received his Bachelor Degree and completed 2 years of post-graduate work in Biology at Central Michigan University. After graduation he chose to work for a large camera store in Midland, Michigan where he also taught photography classes at the Dow Center for the Arts. He would later open his own camera store and portrait studio in Alma, Michigan.

In 1986 the beauty and economy of Washington State enticed him and he and his family moved, settling in Olympia. He accepted a position with the Washington Department of Natural Resources as the Southwest Region Biologist and took on the enormous task of surveying Spotted Owls. Ultimately he trained over 200 part-time surveyors statewide and would later help implement and monitor the DNR’s Habitat Conservation Plan for species listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act. This working life style allowed him to combine nature and photography-a perfect combination. He retired in 2013.

Bruce never really stops moving; he has TWICE biked across the United States. Ride #1, 2002, started in Anacortes, Washington taking the northern tier route to Ogunquit, Maine. Ride #2, 2008, started in Huntington Beach, California and took him on the southern tier to St. Augustine, Florida. He intends to do Ride #3 soon.

As a CLT volunteer Bruce has contributed exclusive photographs showing the action and people behind the scenes of CLT community giving. These scenes include documented pictures of CLT properties, CLT work sessions where volunteers work to restore lands, CLT fund raising events, and large community galas.

He holds strong beliefs that people never really “own” land, but instead “borrow” land and have the responsibility to pass it along to future generations without having caused environmental damage. He believes that being a volunteer for CLT means that community services are conducted in ways that carry out the CLT principle of saving land for the future. Bruce’s active participation in documenting CLT activities and commitments through his photography will certainly attract many more CLT Volunteers.

A few additional photos by Bruce:

7th grade students at Bayshore Preserve.

Volunteer restoration event at Bayshore Preserve.

Yummy shellfish provided by Taylor Shellfish at a restoration event.