Edgar P. Bailey

1937-Jan. 14, 2018

Edgar P. Bailey, 80, died peacefully in his sleep on Jan. 14, 2018, in Homer after a protracted debilitating illness.

Growing up with a dad who was exploring the jungles of Indonesia, South America, and Africa, Edgar Bailey learned to do his own exploring. Not content with city life in Hollywood, young Ed got into all sorts of trouble, such as diverting traffic on his street, creating fake detours, and other pranks that conveyed his discontent.

To keep him out of trouble and assuage his need for a life in the countryside, his folks sent him to Ojai Valley School, a life-changing and memorable experience that included lifelong friends and memories. Illness prevented him from attending high school at a boarding school, so he attended Hollywood High and discovered he loved science, especially biology. On hikes in the Hollywood Hills with his dad he gained an appreciation and skills in birding and hiking, fueling his lifelong love of the outdoors.

After earning his undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Redlands, he then pursued a master’s degree in wildlife biology at Utah State in Logan. He wrote his master’s thesis on starlings. Birds became his life’s passion for work and pleasure.

He married his first wife and after college hired on with the National Park Service. He did stints in Capulin Mountain Volcano National Monument, Cumberland Gap National Historic Park and Death Valley National Park. He was disillusioned by life as a park service naturalist since he spent a lot of time in Visitor Centers telling people where the bathrooms were and the cost of a postcard.

He wanted to do biology and exploration. He transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and went to Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge and then transferred to Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge. While at Fish Springs the military experimented with nerve gas and sheep died all around the refuge. At Hart Mountain his son, Lorne, was born.

In 1969, he and his family transferred to the remote Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Cold Bay, Alaska. During his stay in Cold Bay, he and his wife parted ways. In 1973, Ed transferred to Anchorage and worked in the Regional Office of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In summers he was sent out to the field as these were exciting times in Alaska with discussions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA), the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and plans for new refuges and monuments all over Alaska. He was part of the planning team for the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge now with its headquarters in Homer.

Ed met Nina Faust, his long-time partner and wife, at a Mountaineering Club meeting in Anchorage in 1973. Cleverly he signed up for the hike she had signed up for, got there early, and was already sitting on top of Bird Ridge when she got there. He asked her to go to the movies with him, the beginning of their 45 years of life adventures together.

Ed’s career took him to remote field areas each summer, and Nina became his annual summer volunteer. First projects were exploring all the coastal areas on the Alaska Peninsula, Kenai Peninsula, and offshore island groups counting seabirds and marine mammals. Trips were solo — just Ed and Nina — most of the time. They travelled along treacherous wilderness coastlines and offshore islands carrying all their food and supplies for up to a month in a 16-foot rubber inflatable boat. Their only way to contact the outside world then was an ELT (Emergency Locator Beacon).

After the 1980s Alaska Lands Act passed, the summer projects took on restoration of island biodiversity, a project to trap off introduced foxes put on islands in the 1800s into the 1940s. The foxes decimated the seabird populations, leaving the islands biologically impoverished. Removing the foxes allowed seabirds to recolonize, bringing back their biologically important guano that helps plant life thrive. Trips to the remote Shumagin Islands and the weather-challenged Aleutians were taken each year till Ed retired in 1995.

Each summer after the refuge field season, they floated remote rivers all over Alaska, including some of the largest and best known glacial rivers. Many of these trips are recounted in videos on Youtube.

Ed was a devoted conservation activist and worked on many important issues with various conservation groups over the years, including trying to end the practice of bear baiting and aerial wolf hunting in Alaska, stopping the parking of oil rigs in Kachemak Bay, keeping oil and gas drilling out of Kachemak Bay, making Kachemak Bay a jetski free area, and stopping the coalbed methane oil and gas lease in Homer, to just mention a few. As an avid birder, he worked to protect local habitat in Kachemak Bay, served on the Kachemak Bay State Park Advisory Board, and co-founded Kachemak Crane Watch with Nina. He also provided a building to house the Cook Inletkeeper at a subsidized rent. In 2004, the Alaska Conservation Foundation honored him with the Celia Hunter Award for Outstanding Volunteer Contributions; in 2014 the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust selected him for their Land at Heart Award honoring distinguished contributions to conservation on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

In retirement, Ed wanted to start his own wildlife preserve, so he bought as many contiguous lands as were available to piece together a wildlife corridor that is managed as a preserve for all wildlife, and especially for Sandhill Cranes. Today that 650-acre private preserve is known as Inspiration Ridge Preserve, and in the near future it will officially become a preserve actively run by the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. This will be a lasting legacy of Ed’s conservation efforts, a cause he has worked for all his adult life.

Ed is survived by his partner and wife of 45 years, Nina Faust and his son, Lorne Bailey.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in his memory to the Alaska Conservation Foundation, Inspiration Ridge Preserve Maintenance and Operation Fund, 911 West 8th Ave., Suite 300, Anchorage, AK 99501.