Janet DeVlieg Pope Item Info
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Janet Pope:So I've been coming here to Taylor for several years. I was trying to think tonight how long it's been. It has been since late nineties. And I came here mainly because when I came to Idaho from Detroit and I have a ranch up on the lower salmon, I met a helicopter pilot and he was doing work in here.
So I got to come in here and I met Jim and Holly Atkenson at the time, got very enthused with the whole idea of Taylor, and at the same time I have a foundation that I run in Michigan. My dad and my grandpa had a machine tool company and wanted to get back to Students for Engineering Education. Grandpa never went past the eighth grade and so we were doing things in engineering.
But once I came out to Idaho and fell in love with the backcountry, which I did a lot of things with outfitters and that and all that, enjoyed the horses and the packing and got to know the wilderness. I started bringing some of the funds out to share with Idaho, and I was introduced to the University of Idaho through Taylor.
And it was that those early years that Jim and Holly Akenson were here and we we were trying to think of ideas for involving undergraduate students here and also continue research, hopefully have graduate programs that would expand any world sort of world class research in here, because this is a perfect place to examine what is still pristine wilderness compared to what happens in the cities, you know, and what we've done to civilization back where we all live.
But anyway, so my first interaction with them was with the professors there at University of Idaho. We we thought of ideas for letting the professors think of a project, a research project, and then find a student. We thought of ideas to have interns come in here in the summer and we've had for two six of them every summer since, and they would work at the ranch and learn things from professors coming in.
So I saw a lot of ways that the Devlieg Foundation could support these programs because everybody needed a way to financially get in here. And so I became happily a great part of the team. And I didn't work for you. I always felt like I was, but we have had some very successful programs. The The Devlieg cabin came out of the fire in 2000 where they lost a couple bunkhouses, and I just innocently said maybe the Lake Foundation could help a little.
And and if any of you seen the Devlieg cabin, you'll know we did it a lot and a lot of it was volunteer work and labor love to make something that would be a signature of the backcountry, along with fixing up some of the other cabins. So I care very much about the history of the place. I care very much about wilderness.
I think if you have to keep educating people to wilderness or or we'll lose it. So we need to educate the young and and the old and and keep the the history alive. And here I've been very thrilled to be a part of every process. And project. And here I also have involved research with other universities to come in here and do their studies.
So during some of our ideas get togethers with the ranch here, I we decided to create what we call a Devlieg undergraduate research scholar. And that idea was to bring undergrads into experiencing a research project. It didn't have to be a two year graduate program or anything. It could be just a summer program. There's so much research has been done in here and luckily it's becoming cataloged.
So you can say what was done on woodpeckers. And you know, you can gather that information and carry on from there. But these students, it was a very successful program in that they felt like they had a real project and it was only like ten weeks in the summer. These some of the students have gone on to publish and stay in that subject matter.
But every time we have the interns in here and these young students, we we have them give a report at the end of the summer. And I am just always thrilled with their comments and their successes and the whole idea that they came in here and basically a lot of them, it's changed their life. They've said, my God, they had no idea what it would be like to separate themselves from town, from whatever their everyday things are, and their their friends and family and everything, and experience the wilderness and experience taking care of themselves.
And it's always brought tears to my eyes to have them make those statements because that's what it's all about. People that come in here, it changes people. It's slow, it's quiet. Sure, we have now we have Internet and ways to continue to connect with research. And that's what it's really for. So we're able to keep in contact and a lot of people hike all the way in here, which is 35 miles from the trailhead, and a lot of the kids fly in.
But I'm able to, with my foundation, able to support the funding so that they can do that. And a couple of years ago, we decided to bring professors in every summer for these interns that would teach at maybe a two or three day course and they'd learn more about the area. So it's been a pretty successful program.
Jack Kredell:That was great. So can you maybe reflect on what you think the value of a wilderness education is? You know, what does what what does Taylor provide that that other spaces really can't?
Janet Pope:That's really hard, isn't it?
Jack Kredell:Yeah.
Janet Pope:What do you think?
Jack Kredell:Well, you mentioned the the quiet, which struck me. It's just it's struck me ever since I arrived here that the so-called Taylor time, the fact that, you know, you're removed from the stuff that is vexing you and causing anxiety and you get to. Yeah, you know that in a way. Yeah. Observe things for one.
Janet Pope:I.
Jack Kredell:Don't know.
Janet Pope:The set of experiences I think people have at Taylor are all very personal, but I think it's one theme in that you come in and it's quiet, it's basic. You have to have what you need, you have to brought it in. It's quiet, I think. I mean, it's a place where people can think and can think about what they're doing on the what we want to call, I guess, the outside world and sometimes it's hard to come back to after being a Taylor.
It's not an earth shattering experience, but it's a peaceful time to be in here and and have one little project maybe for the undergrads. We have graduate students that have specific projects and they come in here and hike all over the place. They're gone all day of rivers and creeks and up the trail, and they're they're in love with them.
And I and I understand I love the the out-of-doors and the wilderness and the fact that I got here a couple of days ago and looked over the the deck at the lake and there was a a a bear and a and a cub walk another right by the tent. That's pretty cool. So you do see a lot of wildlife.
I think what it does is makes you realize that you could slow down back at home. I think maybe something could be said about why I give and.
Jack Kredell:Why do you.
Janet Pope:Give? Yeah, Really? Well, you know, with development people that I've been involved with the university. Why? Why do you give? I've been more excited about giving to University of Idaho and Taylor Ranch than anything my foundation does. I know I should be helping carry on my my dad and my grandpa legacy in the machine tool business. But gosh, you know, the backcountry is a lot more intriguing, but it's a passion.
They talk about that and developing. It's a passion that you have something in your life and I have that passion here for Taylor. I have been doing a lot of it, like half of maybe our funding comes to the university at home. Taylor And just to encourage research, encourage use of the place, encourage people to have these experiences.
And I you know, like I don't work for the university, but sometimes I think they think I do. Yes. I'm I'm always telling them ideas and hoping to make their ideas happen. And I we've probably have just a few more years with the foundation. I'm I'm pushing pushing some age here and I think of Taylor as the legacy for my foundation and my heart's really in it.
So that's pretty cool. So on top of everything else, I love my muse. Also, two years ago I wrote my bills in here that made all the difference in the world too. So yeah.
Jack Kredell:Got it. Very. Janet, you're extremely generous with your support for Taylor. Yeah, And it feels like you. It's because you want other people, specifically younger people, to. To have that same experience and passion as Yeah. To be able to experience that for themselves.
Janet Pope:So can I say then that.
Jack Kredell:Yeah, I mean it to me that seems what you're doing is.
Janet Pope:Yeah.
Jack Kredell:It's that you want other people to have.
Janet Pope:Yeah, yeah.
Jack Kredell:Yeah. Okay.
Janet Pope:Yeah. So also the passion that I feel for Taylor is the thrill of sharing it with others. And it's not a big crowd and a Taylor. I mean, the university always has trouble making ends meet in here and going through budget and that kind of thing. So I try to help with that. But it's an individual experience in here that it really happens and it slows you down and makes you look at wildlife and the ecology in here and makes you think about the world.
I didn't set out to do all that. It just sort of happened with this. With the way I feel about Idaho and the way I feel about the backcountry and I just love sharing it with other people and I've been able to help make that happen financially. So I'm very pleased.
Jack Kredell:Are there any specific or can you reflect on any any memories or specific times that you've had at Taylor that you really cherish? You know, is there anything that stands out from all of your visits?
Janet Pope:Well, I could talk about the cabin a little bit because that was huge.
Jack Kredell:Yeah.
Janet Pope:Yeah. So when it came time that they needed more room for students to stay and everything, we we had this idea, all of us, the university, I think to build a cabin. And so I got involved with the foundation did and my husband at the time still flying helicopters. We were able to steer head the whole project basically, and you know, as all volunteer and with my heart that we did all we did.
And Jim Pope is is a hard worker, too. And so we organized the whole helicopter lift off the main salmon, and we had 32 loads come in here with this all the logs. And then we sat here and watched and put it all back together. And then, then I hired three carpenters that are very good with logs, cabins, because they worked on my cabin on the Lord Salmon, and they came in and put the roof on, put it all together, did all the inside.
And then I stayed and stayed and with Holly and spent our first night in the cabin, it was it was quite, quite the event. And I think the backcountry has a lot of that volunteerism because the backcountry all supports itself. People back here want to help the other guy like you don't drive away from a guy that's stuck in a ditch, you know, in the middle of nowhere.
And that's the way I see people in the backcountry. And I hope and I think that's the way the student feel when they come in here, because they'll be one project going on and another. Stu, can I go with you today? And then all this you know, transfer of of knowledge goes on. So I think one of our biggest projects, of course, was the Cabin, and I practically lived in here at that time.
So and we had the students helping to the interns that summer. So that was a big experience. But I think I think programs happening in here that I've helped maybe give some dollars to that happen, you know, semester in a while was something we all kind of got on the ground floor of. Now it's self-sufficient, so that's cool.
I always thought that the projects that we would the Devlieg Foundation would pay for, I just do it for a couple of years and then somebody jump in. But we haven't had that guy jump in yet. So we're still looking for, you know, substantial funding and I decided one day with the foundation that they needed money here to support the everyday things that are happening here with the cost of the maintenance sky and flying in and materials.
So my foundation gave us substantial start in a substantial endowment. And then the other lady that has supported Taylor way before me was Claire Blake, and she lives in Minnesota and she's much older now and can't come out, but she ended up giving the same amount. So we we have an endowment now that's and it's not in our names or anything.
It's called the Taylor Operational Endowment and anybody can give to her. So I think that's helped keep the place together because there have been a lot of threats of having to close it down because of budgets with the University of Idaho. And and that that would just break my heart. So if I work harder at trying to make make things happen here.
Jack Kredell:That's good. Is that a good that's great.
Janet Pope:You can put these in some sort of order.
Jack Kredell:Yeah.
Janet Pope:So things that have happened or.
Jack Kredell:Yeah.
Janet Pope:Following the the students. Okay. So I think the other thing and it hasn't been that way in the last few years because I've been involved with my own life and stuff, but I still support projects and, and, but at the beginning when the students come in here and do the undergrad, I mean, I would follow them on the trail.
I would I would find out what they're doing. And I always had them report to me and, and actually had some of them come to our meetings wherever they were, because we used to have our foundation meetings in some really fun places like Estes Park and things. So anyway, I always think that the students were thrilled that somebody was interested.
I've always tried to come in and be interested in the project, whatever they are, and I'm sure it just makes them feel great that somebody is following their their career, whether it's something they finish back at U of I or it's just a summer project. I have followed all the students for years. It's very fun for me to be personal with them.
Jack Kredell:Can you talk about this? This is maybe a tough one, but, can you talk about your your vision for Taylor?
Janet Pope:boy. Goes on forever.
Jack Kredell:What do you want for Taylor's future, or what would you like to see?
Janet Pope:Well, my vision for Taylor and it's been this for several years, the Jim and Holley Ackenson, as they were biologists in their own right. So they had a lot of great ideas for the for the ranch. And there were three things that we worked on. And I think we need to continue to work on is research here which involved people and what better way to get people involved in the wilderness than to have a project.
There's so there's the undergraduate programs that help enlighten young people to what could be done in here, brings a professor in that a lot of times it starts with the professor and then they find the student. So to educate the undergrads to what's going on here. But there's also serious research that has been done in the past with Maurice Hornocker, her and the Cougar studies that are world renowned studies and I really think it's important to get those kind of have those studies continue to happen in here.
We have a chance to have world class education or research in here, and we I think we need to work. That would be a vision that I would have to continue to have graduate work in here versus always a struggle with the Forest Service to be on the edge of wilderness and be able to touch and work on their land.
You know, a lot of times and you have to work with fish and game on them. So I understand all that. But there's the third element is the ongoing continuing research of a project. Like we have had a vegetation study in here from a professor at U of I that's gone on for 25 years and those are very important in the research field.
And I learned a lot of this from just being involved with what could be done in here. And I see some of that slacking a little and I see a lot of chances here for really serious education, research, education in here. So that would be my vision to make this a world class research place and at the same time involve people to have these experiences, whether they're big, smaller, little.
Jack Kredell:But no good.
Janet Pope:Yeah.
Jack Kredell:That was my first segment.
Janet Pope:That's what we that's what and I used to do the website form here, you know, that's what were our three, that was our three things of it we wanted those is our circle of things for undergrads with ongoing research.
Jack Kredell:Yeah. Janet I mean, sometimes you paint yourself as just like Justin supporter or donor, which you're not. I mean, you.
Janet Pope:Know, I'm hands on here.
Jack Kredell:I know you've, you've got your hands dirty. I know. Do you have any stories about just like working here with Jim and Holly or just, just doing stuff? Anything come to mind? I mean, you've, you know, poured your heart and soul into this, but yeah.
Janet Pope:Well, some of the experiences that I've had here are wonderful as far as wildlife is concerned. And I really came here with my husband at the time who was doing the game surveys for Idaho, a fishing game. That's how I came here in the first place. So I hung out with a lot of biologists and I actually drove the fuel truck, which didn't involve Taylor Ranch, but I got to come in here and hang out while he was fine and that kind of thing.
So I got quite involved with Wildlife and Elk surveys, bighorn sheep wolf. I would hang out here and they they can since had a mule that died and they used it for a game camera and to capture a wolf because they were certified with the Colorado. So here I am holding a wolf head, you know, and just happened to be coming by.
And I get to experience it's like that, you know, and Holly was always great to take me up on the Hill and set me on a rock. And and we had a study in here once with rattlesnakes. And in the winter you had to sort of monitor there if they're still alive and they have put tags on them.
And I learned all about that. And we were sitting there once and counting how many, you know, clicks that I guess, you know, I learned just enough to be dangerous on all these studies. I don't necessarily know what I'm doing, but we were monitoring them and counting them. And I said, Well, now are we going to go find the snakes?
And she said, Well, you're sitting on their den right now. So, you know, I had a lot of they just throw me in to things and I was always game to because I just love I love being out out in the woods. And I, I love wildlife and I just want others to learn about it. So I've had a lot of opportunities here for just being here.
And I'm very privileged. I think. And I don't think there's any other donor -- If you want to call me a donor, that would have bother with those kind of experiences or be friends with them enough to hang out and want to hear what everybody's doing. And that's I guess that's what I did. And it's been a love that really has itself.
Jack Kredell:Growing up in in suburban Michigan, what brought you out here to Idaho?
Janet Pope:Yeah. Okay. So when I I'm actually from Detroit, I always tell people that to scare them. You know, Detroit's quite a it's not really it was a nice suburb. And my parents, of course, had that business there in town. But my dad always was she was a forest ranger and he had to run this machine tool company because he was responsible.
And that was a big company. And I eventually ended up working for the company for 15 years. I was there, became their advertising manager, so I was in graphic arts. We had a cabin up in northern Michigan, halfway up, up the thumb, they say, and we just loved it. It was a log cabin and we planted trees and that was where my family's heart was, was in the woods.
And I always loved to camp. I floated every river in Michigan, had a couple bottle of wine when I did it and just love being out-of-doors and camping and so when I had a chance to buy some property in Idaho, my girlfriend moved out here and I came flying out that night with my first husband at the time and we just bought it overnight.
It's 1300 acres on the on the lower salmon up 5000 feet. And you've got the river down below. I'm I'm in heaven. I mean, I have the best of every world on I, I love the ranch, although I live in town so I just can't get there in the winter. So but I guess it came from my family really.
Even though we were industrial people and building machines, my heart again, was always in the woods. I've always enjoyed it. So I don't know if that helps you.
Jack Kredell:I'm just trying to understand it.
Janet Pope:You're making me dizzy. It's probably the wine is.
Jack Kredell:Do you think of Taylor as your as your legacy?
Janet Pope:yeah, that I say that. Yeah. I thought I tried to.
Jack Kredell:You did, but I mean, yeah, it just seems like, in a way, the most important thing in your life. Yeah. Yeah.
Janet Pope:So I have brought in my foundation board out here. We've had our meetings here. gosh. I had five airplanes on the strip. You know, try not to bruise the wilderness. They love this place. And they were actually came out for the christening of the new Tivoli cabin or whatever. They love everything we do at Taylors. So I have all that support with my foundation board.
And I think that the majority of them all know that what I feel is a legacy for my Devlieg money that I've been able to disperse all this years, even though I try to keep my my grandpa's legacy alive because he is in the Hall of Fame of machine tool manufacturers never went past the eighth grade, so we wanted to give back to education.
So that theme always ran with me too. But I always have felt that my heart's here at Taylor and that this is a legacy I want my foundation to live with and live on with. So and I know it will. With all that we've been able to financially support emotionally the support here, how could it not? You know, and you have always been respectful for that to me and I'm just very happy to volunteer and be part of it all.
Jack Kredell:Are there any are there any things you want to say, you know, from the heart or just I think I go over just anything you want to say at all. Otherwise we can we can wrap it.
Janet Pope:Yeah, I think that I think that last one was pretty good cheer.
Jack Kredell:I got.
Janet Pope:That. Cheers. Cheers. You cry. Well, I mean it.
Jack Kredell:I know.
Janet Pope:I know. I basically mean, it's crazy. I mean, I don't know how these people sometimes they don't know what to do with me. You know, you're right. As I was always saying, What? We're going to do this don't want to do this, you know, So and they always take good care of me and they're always very respectful of me.
And they know I want to be part of things. And there's long like when I don't know what's going on with Taylor. And then I get real worried because we always need a good maintenance person here and we always need somebody to watch it all winter long. And it's hard to find those people. And there's always been budget cuts and I've always freaked out and panicked and you know, what can we do?
So that's why we started that endowment.
Jack Kredell:So I think Andrew is pretty good.
Janet Pope:What is.
Jack Kredell:It? Are you happy with Andrew?
Janet Pope:God, yeah, me too. God, Yeah. What I think we need right now, I have. Look what I think would be good for Taylor right now. And I've always been on the planning committee itself of I have some good ideas and they had a really good coordinator last year. And that's what I think we need right now. We need a, educator, a professor, professor type coordinator that can organize the research in here, whether it's an undergrad or graduate, bring in the government agencies and organize it.
So there's always a project going on in here. And what the good part about that is that when you bring the undergrads in, they can always be part of that project and they can use them to go. Like I said before, I'll go up the stream with them and learn from those projects. And I think we're at a stage where we need to get a little more organized again, and I'm always the first one to to build the flowchart.
Let's do it. You know, you can't. I'm always been encouraged with what they do on here. That was Teresa last year. You didn't know her.
Jack Kredell:I'm not. Theresa's on that.
Janet Pope:we did that before. We talked about that before.
Jack Kredell:I love Theresa.
Janet Pope:Do you know what I'm trying to say?
Jack Kredell:Yeah, I do.
Janet Pope:Yeah. Just. I don't know what their plans are and all.
Jack Kredell:I know it's always been big to me.
Janet Pope:You know? But I literally last two years ago, when Theresa, we we literally did have a flowchart. I was and I gave money for I was the grad student from to come to them to come and they would filter out projects and made sense to me. But then Theresa ended up leaving so.
- Title:
- Janet DeVlieg Pope
- Creator:
- Jack Kredell
- Date Created:
- August 02, 2022
- Description:
- Jack Kredell interviews Janet DeVlieg Pope, president and board member of the DeVlieg Foundation. Janet talks about her involvement with the Taylor Wilderness Research Station, the DeVlieg undergraduate research fellowship, her connection with wilderness and nature.
- Subjects:
- research students wilderness ecology
- Location:
- Taylor Wilderness Research Station
- Latitude:
- 45.1028
- Longitude:
- -114.8517
- Source:
- Voices of Taylor - Jack Kredell Interview Project funded by the U of I Library and the College of Natural Resources
- Type:
- Image;MovingImage
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Preferred Citation:
- "Janet DeVlieg Pope", Taylor Wilderness Research Station Archive, University of Idaho Library Digital Initiatives
- Reference Link:
- https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/taylor-archive/items/pope.html
- Rights:
- In Copyright. Educational Use only. Educational use includes non-commercial use of text and images in materials for teaching and research purposes. Digital reproduction permissions assigned by University of Idaho Library. For more information, please contact University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives Department at libspec@uidaho.edu.