Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Series 22: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
David Siegenthaler
Director of Environmental Education
1980 – 1981

DAVID SIEGENTHALER Staff
Environmental Education Program Coordinator
February 1980 – January 1981

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TAGS: David Siegenthaler, program coordinators, Environmental Education program, Pine Mountain Settlement School, environmental education, George Williams College, social science, community organizing, Scott Mathies, Delores Nice Siegenthaler, National Park Service, Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest, Agassiz Audubon Society, Federal Lands to Parks, theology, eco-justice ministers, Presbytery of San Francisco, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Theological Union

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DAVID SIEGENTHALER Before Pine Mountain

David Siegenthaler attended Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, from c. 1968 to 1972.

He began his college studies at George Williams College, Downers Grove, Illinois, as a social science major, concentrating in the area of community studies and community organizing. After earning a bachelor’s degree in 1976, he remained at George Williams College until 1979 to earn a master of science degree in environmental resource administration and interpretation.  

DAVID SIEGENTHALER At Pine Mountain

David came to Pine Mountain in February 1980 after a short time with the National Park Service (NPS), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior. His education and experience prepared him well to serve as program coordinator of environmental education (EE) at the School.

Scott Mathies, another early EE staff member (1979-1980), remembers in a narrative about his years at Pine Mountain: “[W]e enjoyed and learned from each other and made lifelong friends.” He tells of several marriages among the staff, including his own and that of David’s to Delores (“Dee”) Nice, an EE intern in 1980 and EE teacher in 1981.

Dee and David left Pine Mountain in January 1981.

DAVID SIEGENTHALER After Pine Mountain

Since leaving Pine Mountain, David’s career has continued to be focused on matters related to the natural environment.

Soon after his EE teaching position at Pine Mountain, David worked for a year with Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest in Livingston, KY, as technical network coordinator and resource center manager. He dealt with issues concerning illegal coal mining, water quality, alternative and appropriate technologies, social justice, land preservation, land trust establishment, legal environmental regulation, and the transfer of enforcement to the states.

He then moved on to work as a Wetlands, Pines, and Prairie Audubon Sanctuary manager at the Agassiz Audubon Society in Warren, Minnesota, from 1942 until 1984.

For the next 27 years, he served as a supervisory ranger and specialist for the National Park Service, working in locations such as North Cascades, Mt. Rainier, and Yosemite National Parks. From 1977 until 2004 his experiences included back-country trail and lake patrols, fire fighting and fire information officer, minor law enforcement, search and rescue, back-country and front-country interpretation, resource management/restoration, public outreach, park and interpretive planning, litigation support, staff supervision, interdisciplinary communications team leader.

David’s most recent occupation was again with the National Park Service in San Francisco. As a regional program manager of the Federal Lands to Parks program, he oversaw several state and local assistance programs for the western region of the NPS. This program conveys federal surplus real property to state and local governments for public parks and provides compliance oversight to insure those parks are protected in perpetuity. 

At the same time, David has done volunteer work as an eco-justice minister at large for the Presbytery of San Francisco. He had earned a Master of Divinity degree focusing on theology and ethics in 1995 at the Austin (Texas) Presbyterian Theological Seminary. By 2010, he had earned a Ph.D. at the Theological Union in Berkeley, California. His dissertation was titled, The Human Role In Nature: A Case Study Analysis of Yosemite Planning Processes Employing H. Richard Niebuhr’s Symbol of Responsibility.

David and Delores are currently living in Poulsbo, Washington.

GALLERY: DAVID SIEGENTHALER Staff

Title	David Siegenthaler
Alt. Title	David A. Siegenthaler
Identifier	https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=101145
Creator	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Alt. Creator	Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ;
Subject Keyword	David Siegenthaler, program coordinator, Environmental Education program, Pine Mountain Settlement School, environmental education, George Williams College, social science, community organizing, Scott Mathies, Delores Nice Siegenthaler, National Park Service, Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest, Agassiz Audubon Society, Federal Lands to Parks, theology, eco-justice ministers, Presbytery of San Francisco, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Theological Union
Subject LCSH	Siegenthaler, David. Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History. Harlan County (Ky.) — History. Education — Kentucky — Harlan County. Rural schools — Kentucky — History. Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern. Environmental Education.
Date	2022-06-30 aae
Publisher	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Contributor	n/a
Type	Collections ; text ; image ;
Format	Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet.
Source	Series 09: BIOGRAPHY Series 22: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Language	English
Relation	Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: BIOGRAPHY and Series 22: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION.
Coverage Temporal	c. 1968 – 2010
Coverage Spatial	Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Downers Grove, IL ; Warren, MN ; San Francisco, CA ; Berkeley, CA ; Poulsbo, WA ;
Rights	Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Donor	n/a
Description	Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of David Siegenthaler ; clippings, photographs, books by or about David Siegenthaler ;
Acquisition	n/d
Citation	“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Processed By	Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ;
Last Updated
Sources	“David Siegenthaler,” Series 22: Environmental Education. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Internet resource. LinkedIn.com ; internet resource.
Selected Bibliography	Siegenthaler, D. Earth Walk: A Deep Ecology Perspective and Critique of the Mainstream Environmental Movement.Unbound, 2012. – justiceunbound.org – Internet resource. (PDF) Siegenthalder, David. https://www.facebook.com/david.siegenthaler Siegenthaler, David Paul. The human role in nature: A case study analysis of Yosemite planning processes employing H. Richard Niebuhr’s symbol of responsibility. The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. Dissertations Publishing, Degree Year 2010. Internet resource. Siegenthaler, David. Project Wild (Project Tame). Institute for Earth Education, Cedar Grove, Greenville, WV 24935 (1986). Print. (Book)

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Return To:
BIOGRAPHY – A-Z

See Also:
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION The Green Book 1974 (Early Manual for EE Program)

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Guide 1972 to Present

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Staff 1972 to Present

GUIDE TO “The Pine Mountain Story 1913-1980” – Written by Mary Rogers. Chapter 9 – Environmental Education Program

SCOTT MATHIES EE Narrative – Scott Mathies describes his experiences as a teacher in the Environmental Education Program in 1979-1981.

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