From Grief to Growth: A Father's Mission to Perpetuate His Daughter's Conservation Legacy

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Charlie Campbell's path to Colorado—and to conservation—made for an unexpected journey. During Charlie's college search, a mentor suggested Colorado College—a school Charlie had never heard of, but he decided to apply to Colorado College. 

Colorado College changed everything for Charlie. He fell in love with the mountains, the open spaces, and the community. After graduation and four years in the U.S. Navy, he returned to Colorado Springs, built a life here, and eventually found his way onto Palmer's board, though he admits with a laugh that the exact path to Palmer has blurred with time. When he joined Palmer's board, conservation became a way of honoring the places that had given him so much.

Charlie's journey from East Coast prep school student to Colorado conservation leader demonstrates how the places we love can transform us—and how one person's dedication can create ripples of impact that extend across generations.

Heather's Spark

Charlie raised his family in Colorado, including his daughters Heather and Nicol, who would inherit and amplify his love for protecting Colorado. They owned a cabin in the sub-alpine forests of the Misquito Range, and they spent countless weekends and weeklong retreats at the beloved cabin whenever their schedules allowed.  As children, the two girls once built a small shelter for marmots above treeline on Mt. Cameron, carefully piling rocks and roofing it with weathered boards from dilapidated mines to help the little animals survive the long winter months. This tender act of care for nature became a lifelong ethos for the girls.

Heather Campbell Chaney earned her master's degree in Multicultural Environmental Education, dedicating her life to teaching children about the outdoors and inspiring them to become stewards of the natural world. 

She witnessed Colorado Springs grow from a Western town to a sprawling city, and she saw firsthand how rapid development threatened the region's beloved connection to nature. To combat the negative impacts on the region’s natural resources, she believed deeply in teaching young people about conservation as the path to protecting what drew people to the Pikes Peak region.

Following in Charlie’s footsteps, Heather joined Palmer's Board of Trustees, contributing her expertise in environmental education to protect the places that made Colorado special. In early 2001, Heather passed away. She was only 30 years old. Her death left a void not only for her family and friends but for the organizations she supported.

A young women with blond hair and circular glasses wearing a blue fleece and khakis shorts sits on a sun lit rock with two dogs.

When Grief Becomes Growth

In the months following Heather's passing, Charlie partnered with Catamount Institute and later with Palmer Land Conservancy to establish the Heather Campbell Chaney Environmental Fellowship. It was a way to ensure that Heather's passion for conservation and environmental education would continue to touch lives, even though she was gone.

"I needed to carry Heather's work forward for her," Charlie says simply.

For 25 years, that's exactly what the fellowship has done. Each summer, new fellows join Catamount Institute and Palmer Land Conservancy to follow in Heather's footsteps. These young conservationists have monitored Palmer's 20 publicly accessible parks and open spaces—places like Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Paint Mines Interpretive Park, and Bear Creek Regional Park—and assisted with monitoring some of the 140+ privately conserved properties across Palmer's 150,000+ protected acres.

"To me, each fellow has embodied Heather," Charlie reflects.

Multiplier of Impact

The fellowship has become more than a memorial—it's a multiplier of Heather's vision. Fellows have gone on to careers in conservation, environmental law, and education, carrying forward the values she held dear.

Jordan McMurtry, the 2024 Heather Campbell Chaney Environmental Fellow, captures the fellowship's profound impact: "My summer with the Fellowship has shaped so many of the opportunities I have had...It has been such an honor and privilege to be yet another person touched by Heather and her amazing life."

The work these fellows do isn't a typical office internship. It's fieldwork in late summer heat. It's seeing a child's wonder as they hike along a trail. It's listening to ranchers and learning to see land through many eyes. It's hands-on conservation that protects the views that take our breath away and the open spaces where we find renewal.

Through these fellows over the last 25 years, Heather's belief that loving a place means rolling up your sleeves to take care of it has shaped countless lives and protected thousands of acres.

A Father's Final Mission—Making Forever Real

Charlie is candid about where he stands today. "I'm not the same young man who helped launch this fellowship."

For 25 years, he's worked to fund the fellowship annually, ensuring each summer brings a new steward to Palmer's protected lands and an educator to Catamount Institute. But now, he's focused on something bigger: transforming the fellowship into a perpetual endowment.

"This is my final fundraising effort to ensure Heather's light never goes out," Charlie says.

Why does permanence matter so much? Because conservation easements protect land forever. The fellowship, which monitors and cares for those protected lands, should have the same permanence.

A perpetual endowment means:

  • Young people will always have the chance to learn, serve, and protect Colorado
  • Fellows will continue hands-on conservation work on Palmer's protected properties
  • Children will continue to be inspired by nature and taught to care for it
  • Heather's environmental ethic lives on in every community the fellows serve
  • Young, diverse leaders continue to bring fresh perspectives to this work

"I want someone to be able to stand where I am 50 years from now and say, 'Heather is still spreading goodness in this world,'" Charlie envisions.

An Invitation to Join Charlie's Mission

Charlie needs a circle of supporters who, like Heather, believe that caring for this place is both a privilege and a duty.

Every donation to the Heather Campbell Chaney Environmental Fellowship Fund helps anchor the fellowship's future, ensuring Heather's spark becomes a steady, eternal flame. Your donation supports:

  • Establishing the perpetual endowment that will fund fellows forever
  • Ensuring future fellows can continue monitoring Palmer's forever-protected properties
  • Bringing children outside to build wonder and responsibility for nature
  • Creating conservation leaders for generations to come

Palmer Land Conservancy and Catamount Institute will continue stewarding this legacy, but it's the community—people like you—who make it possible.

Heather's Light, Forever Burning

With community support, Heather's legacy will endure not as a memory but as a living force for conservation. Twenty-five years is a long time to carry a loss. But knowing that Heather's joy for teaching and her deep-seated belief that loving a place means taking care of it still shapes people she never had the chance to meet—that's what keeps Charlie steady.

Help us fund the Fellowship forever. Join Charlie in carrying Heather's spirit into the next century.

DONATE NOW TO THE HEATHER CAMPBELL CHANEY ENVIRONMENTAL FELLOWSHIP FUND

The simplest way to contribute is with cash or a check. Please make checks out to the Pikes Peak Community Foundation. In the memo line, please write “Heather’s 56th Campaign. Checks can be mailed to: 

PPCF
315 E Pikes Peak Avenue Suite #120
Colorado Springs, CO 80903. 

Gifts of appreciated assets, real estate, or other appreciated assets carry significant tax advantages. The staff at the PPCF can help you choose a gift strategy that maximizes charitable deductions. All gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the law.