Issaquah environmental leader dies

Margaret Macleod helped secure grants for land and trails in and around Issaquah.

By Linda Ball • January 8, 2014 5:50 pm
Margaret Macleod secured a series of grants to preserve hundreds of acres of land in and around Issaquah. She died Dec. 26.
Margaret Macleod secured a series of grants to preserve hundreds of acres of land in and around Issaquah. She died Dec. 26.

Margaret Macleod, who received the Ruth Kees award in 2013 for her environmental efforts, died Dec. 26 after a long battle with metastatic lung cancer. She was 61.

The award was named after Kees, who set the standard for pursuing the vision of a sustainable Issaquah.

Macleod moved to the Puget Sound area in 1993 from Santa Barbara. She worked for the city of Issaquah for 20 years as a park planner. During her time with the city, Macleod helped secure a series of grants that set aside hundreds of acres along Issaquah Creek and adjoining upland areas on Squak and Tiger mountains for protection and restoration.

Macleod also worked closely with the Mountain to Sound Greenway, the state Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Forest Service to set aside lands for the Greenway trail along I-90 in King County.

Doug McClelland, assistant regional manager for the South Puget Sound Region of the DNR, knew her well.

“She was an inter-agency coordinator and she became friends with all of us,” McClelland said. “She was really good at bringing people together.”

He said even though she was employed with the city of Issaquah, her salary was funded by all of the related agencies – King County, DNR, the forest service, state parks and the cities of Issaquah and Seattle.

Dave Kappler, the president of the Issaquah Alps Trail Club and a former member of the Issaquah City Council said Macleod was wonderful at writing — and securing — grants.

“She was responsible for the open parcels we have now,” Kappler said. “She secured tens of millions of dollars in grants not only for Issaquah but also property around the Mountain to Sound Greenway. She was also a wonderful woman to be around; she will be missed.”

Kappler said there was a very well attended gathering Jan. 5 in her honor at the trail house near the community center, where many people remembered her fondly.

McClelland and Kappler both said the lung cancer diagnosis was a surprise since Macleod didn’t smoke. McClelland added that she was already at stage four when it was caught. An avid swimmer, runner and hiker, she became concerned when she couldn’t catch her breath.

Macleod is survived by her husband, Stephen Stanley, who works for the Washington State Department of Ecology as a wetland expert, and two sons, Scott and Rory Stanley.