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Minnesota Heroes

 

Wallace C. Dayton

Photo courtesy the Dayton family

 

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Wallace C. Dayton

Spending his summers on a farm near Excelsior, Minnesota, Wallace “Wally” C. Dayton, “was always drawn to the outdoors,” said his wife Mary Lee Dayton. “He hunted as a young man, rode horses and enjoyed birds and wildflowers.”

It is perhaps this lifelong love of nature that led him to retire as president of the Dayton Development Company in 1968 and, in his own words, “do something that would be more meaningful to me and really reflect me.”

Learning of his interest in conservation, the Conservancy invited him to join its Minnesota Board of Trustees in 1969. It was the beginning of what would be a long and extremely rewarding relationship for both.

“When Wally came on the board,” said Peg Kohring, former Minnesota State Director for the Conservancy, “we were protecting small properties in an opportunistic, unsystematic way. Wally encouraged us to think bigger, and he brought people to the organization who had the resources to make a huge difference.”

“He also brought the concept of long-range planning to the Conservancy,” commented Rob McKim, Managing Director, Central U.S. Region of The Nature Conservancy. “I remember him telling me one time that without a good plan, you wouldn’t know where you were going and that’s where you’d end up.”

Dayton served on the Minnesota board for 17 years, guiding the chapter, mentoring staff and helping to raise millions of dollars for conservation. He also served on the Conservancy’s national board for many years, bringing his business savvy and commitment to conservation to the entire organization.

He has been credited with starting the Conservancy’s Land Preservation Fund, a revolving loan fund that still exists today and is used to finance land purchases. It was a simple but farsighted idea that has allowed the Conservancy to move quickly to protect some of the world’s most outstanding lands and waters.

In his quiet way, Wally Dayton had a profound effect on the Conservancy and on conservation of our natural world. His legacy lives on in his wife and daughters who continue to support the Conservancy’s work in Minnesota and beyond.