Sydney Reisbick, a long-time conservation advocate and former head of local environmental group Friends of Clark County, died this week at age 74.
According to Lucy Krantz, the organization’s treasurer, Reisbick was in hospice care when she died Oct. 17. She said the cause of death was multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells.
Those who knew Reisbick described her as a soft-spoken, bright and gentle individual who had a deep affinity with animals and the environment. She served as board president of the Friends group for five years before stepping down this spring due to her health, said Sue Marshall, who succeeded her.
In 2016, the county completed the tense and heated process of updating its comprehensive plan, a document required by state law to guide growth and land use. As head of the loosely organized group, Reisbick showed up frequently at county council meetings to warn of how growth could imperil farm and natural resource lands.
“It was a very important time, and Sydney was just a champion,” said Marshall. “I think our overarching goal was we should be striving for smart growth and avoiding sprawl and not squandering our natural resources and open space.”
Marshall said that although many of the conservation group’s specific goals for the plan were not shared by the Republican-dominated county council, the organization, under her leadership, joined with the Seattle-based land-use group Futurewise to appeal the comprehensive plan. As a result, the county reversed some of its zoning decisions regarding forest and agricultural land. Other parts of the plan are under appeal.
County council Chair Marc Boldt, who previously served as a county commissioner from 2005 through 2012, said he knew Reisbick from when the county went through previous updates of its comprehensive plan.
“Regardless of which side you were on she was always kind and gracious, but she never, ever wavered from her principles,” he said. “I always appreciated that and how she handled herself.”
Boldt said that as a result of Reisbick’s advocacy, he’s found himself giving more consideration to the consequences of growth and what it means for the environment.
According to a biography provided by Marshall, Reisbick grew up in a house on the edge of Pullman, “between wheat fields and a college town.” Her maiden name was Sydney Hollingsworth.
Growing up, she was in 4-H and helped at the college stables. She later served in Peace Corps in Ecuador and Uruguay, where she trained leaders for youth agricultural groups.
She obtained bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. While doing postdoctoral work at Rutgers University in New Jersey, she and her late husband, Doug, discovered their mutual interest in birding.
She later worked as a researcher for the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, (now the Oregon National Primate Research Center), and taught at Portland State University.
She settled in Ridgefield, where she was involved in the Vancouver Audubon Society, Friends of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and the All Saints Episcopal Church. According to The Columbian archives, Reisbick also started an internet cafe in Hazel Dell in 1998.
“It’s a refuge for the 20 percent of us who are Type B personalities, slow and thorough,” Reisbick said, according to the article.
Val Alexander said she met Reisbick more than 20 years ago at the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge. Around the time, Alexander had recently helped found FOCC and she asked Reisbick, who was already very busy, to join the new organization.
She said Reisbick was a shy, polite and tactical person who, as the group’s president, could always refocus conversations back to the important issues.
Although she was mild-mannered, Marshall said that Reisbick carried deep feelings on a variety of issues. Over the years, Reisbick submitted letters to the editor on topics ranging from coal trains, county permitting, failed school levies, as well as a gravel mine affecting the local aquifer and fish populations,
Marshall said that Reisbick’s mind seemed to be always working and was brimming with information. She also recalled Reisbick’s closeness to wildlife and animals.
“She would say that the little animal she most closely identified with was as the white-footed mouse,” said Marshall, who recalled how Reisbick would scrunch up her face.
Krantz, FOCC’s treasurer, recalled meeting Reisbick at Birdfest, an annual event put on by Friends of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. She said the two went for a walk in the refuge where Reisbick talked about birds and animals, peppering her speech with laughter.
Over the years, Krantz said Reisbick became a mentor to her. Krantz said she learned most from Reisbick’s genuine concern for other people and how she gave so freely of her money, time and spirit.
“She was short and small and adorable,” said Krantz. “She got so many people involved in so many things that were good.”
