Steele, Dwight C., 1914-2002.

Dwight C. Steele (1914-2002) was a lawyer practicing in California and Hawaii with an early interest in labor law, who is primarily known for his extensive work on environmental conservation causes in the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe Region. He was often in leadership positions for the many organizations he was involved with, including: Save San Francisco Bay Association; San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission; Citizens for the Eastshore State Park; Planning and Conservation League; Tahoe Regional Planning Agency; League to Save Lake Tahoe; Tahoe-Baikal Institute; Sierra Club; Sierra Nevada Alliance; and others. He was the recipient of the Peter E. Haas Public Service Award (1999) and the ChevronTexaco Conservation Award (2002) for his conservation efforts. He remained passionate about and active with conservation causes until the time of his death in 2002.

Biographical Information

Dwight C. Steele was born on January 23, 1914 in Alameda, California. A lawyer practicing in California and Hawaii with an early interest in labor law, he began working pro bono in 1969 for conservation causes, and accepted no paying clients after 1980. From 1942 to 1945 he served on the Regional War Labor Board and the Regional War Manpower Commission, and from 1951 to 1952 he was appointed to the National Wage Stabilization Board. Labor work includes that with the Distiributors Association of San Francisco, the Hawaii Employers Council, the Lumber and Mill Employers Association, and the Bermuda Employers Council. From 1968 to 1972 he was elected to the office of Director of the Alpine Springs Water District. From 1971 to 1978 he was a trustee and treasurer for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, and served as General Counsel for the League to Save Lake Tahoe beginning in 1989. From 1978 to 1983 he was appointed as a Governing Body Member of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

An environmental lobbyist and activist, Steele had a particular affinity for water and transportation issues. Active in the Sierra Club beginning in 1966, his environmental activism rapidly expanded to include many conservation groups, campaigns and causes. He served on the Board of Directors and as the Vice President of the Save San Francisco Bay Association (now known as Save the Bay) and served on the Board of Directors and as President for the League to Save Lake Tahoe. He was on the Board of Directors for the Tahoe-Baikal Institute and was deeply involved with many other conservation organizations in the San Francisco Bay area and the Lake Tahoe region. He also worked on legislation to establish the Eastshore State Park and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the first coastal protection agency in the United States.

Two oral histories with Steele are included in Sierra Club Nationwide III (1989) and The Sierra Club and the Urban Environment II: Labor and the Environment in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1960s-1970s (1983). He was the recipient of many awards throughout his career including the Peter E. Haas Public Service Award (1999) for his volunteer efforts and grassroots environmentalism and the ChevronTexaco Conservation Award (2002) for his conservation efforts in the San Francisco Bay area. Steele died on July 11, 2002 in Alpine Meadows, California.