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Adrian Van Dellen

Woodville, Texas
River Conservation Advocate
Piney Woods Group

"I grew up as a farm boy in northern Minnesota," says Adrian Van Dellen. "My uncle farmed there, and my father moved there to become a farmer when I was seven." After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1968 with a degree in veterinary medicine, he joined the U.S. Air Force, where he served for 23 years.

Van Dellen's interest in the environment was kindled while stationed in South Africa. "I was fortunate enough to know the staff in Kruger National Park and do wildlife pathology there and at Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. That experience really put me in touch with nature."

For ten years Van Dellen taught and did clinical investigation at an Air Force hospital in San Antonio. In 1991 he retired to east Texas, where the Club's Piney Woods Group had recently died out. "I was part of its re-founding in 2000," he says. "I founded our newsletter, the Warbler, and I've stayed active ever since."

Van Dellen is currently working on a second career as a nature photographer, focusing on east Texas' Neches River. "I live right alongside the Neches, the only major free-flowing river left in Texas; between two dams, it flows free for 242 miles." An avid kayaker, Van Dellen is collaborating on a paddling guide to the Neches. "Last winter I paddled 325 miles in 17 days, taking GPS coordinates and making photographs. Access is restricted by private land, and I'm looking for public access points and shuttle routes for day-long paddle segments.

Published: December 11, 2006