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January 6, 2011

Editor of North Woods Call dies

Glen Sheppard 'marched to his own drummer'

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE lvanhulle@record-eagle.com

CHARLEVOIX — Tom Bailey has a copy of The North Woods Call on his coffee table.

Glen Sheppard, the nature periodical's longtime editor, was so in touch with the latest environmental issues that the newspaper essentially became required reading for conservationists.

"We'd pass it around the office, and we always referred to it as The Gospel According to Shep," said Bailey, who worked for the state Department of Natural Resources before becoming director of the Little Traverse Conservancy in Harbor Springs.

"Shep's work got a lot of stories into the media statewide that otherwise wouldn't have gotten recognition."

Sheppard, of Charlevoix, died Wednesday at Charlevoix Area Hospital. He was 74. He had been ill, said his wife, Mary Lou Sheppard.

He took over The Call by the early 1970s and was described by friends as a dedicated conservationist and writer who called sources frequently for the latest happenings.

Record-Eagle Political Columnist George Weeks knew Sheppard since the 1970s, when Weeks worked in Gov. William Milliken's administration.

Gubernatorial candidates and DNR directors frequently made stops at Sheppard's home, an acknowledgment of both his readership and grasp of state conservation issues, said Weeks, who referred to Sheppard as "Mother Nature's watchdog."

He visited Sheppard at his home recently and bumped into outgoing DNR Director Rebecca Humphries there.

"He very much marched to his own drummer," said Weeks, who said Sheppard and his paper owed much to retired and current personnel in the DNR and Department of Environmental Quality.

"His sources were deep into (those agencies)," Weeks said. "They just fed him a steady diet. He was really plugged in."

Not long ago, Sheppard — saddened by shrinking outdoors coverage in major newspapers — recruited a few others to form a conservation news service.

It's now defunct, but Bailey said Sheppard will be remembered for his ability to get his work statewide traction.

"He was a catalyst for conservation and environmental media coverage" that far exceeded The Call's subscribers, Bailey said. "He had a lot more reach than that."

The newspaper had subscribers in other states, Mary Lou Sheppard said, adding that her husband spent many hours watching birds and other animals through a window in his home office.

He is survived by his wife and other family members. No funeral services are planned at this time, according to Charlevoix's Winchester Funeral Home, which is handling arrangements.

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