We are sorry to report that Bill McClung has died, July 27, 2020, after a short illness following a stroke in April. His son John says his spirits were high throughout and that he was eager to “get back to work.” He was 81. Please feel free to leave a remembrance here. Rest in Peace, Bill.
Six of the twelve original Conservancy board members in 2002: (l. to r.) Nancy Mueller, Tim Wallace, Tamia Marg, Bill McClung, Joan Collignon, and Barry Miller.
Along with co-founder Tim Wallace, Bill was instrumental after the 1991 Oakland Tunnel fire in establishing an organization of regular citizens who would pay attention to the wildland canyons close to homes in the Oakland-Berkeley Hills and help contribute to their safety and ecological management. Of course, that organization was the Claremont Canyon Conservancy, founded as a nonprofit in 2002. Bill along with his son John also managed a small private park in the next canyon over to the south through the Vicente Canyon Hillside Foundation. John will continue the legacy there.
Bill (left) next to his wife Karen and others from the Claremont Canyon Conservancy on a cross canyon hike in 2005.
Bill’s main career was in book publishing with university run presses at Princeton and UC Berkeley, where he worked for 30 years variously in areas of social science, humanities, and art book sponsoring. He was a longtime general partner of University Press Books/Berkeley and the Musical Offering & Cafe nextdoor.
He retired from the University of California Press in 1992 to rebuild the McClung House after it burned to the ground in the 1991 Oakland Tunnel fire. He became interested in vegetation management to prevent urban/wildland intermix wildfires as a member of the Berkeley Fire Commission in 1994-1996. He published from time to time "News from the Buffer Zone: An Occasional Publication Dedicated to Creating a Beautiful, Biologically Rich, and Wildfire-safe East Bay Hills" before co-founding the Claremont Canyon Conservancy.
Bill was a part owner of Shelterbelt Builders, an open land management and restoration company where he served as Wildfire Specialist and Project Manager.
Bill doing what he loved best, being in nature with like-minded people. Here he is instructing students from John Muir school on the ecology of Garber Park.
Bill stepped down from the Claremont Canyon Conservancy board in 2009 to attend to his other projects. He said at the time, “The Conservancy is an important institution and I think we can all be proud of what we have accomplished. I always envisioned the Conservancy as something to last a century or longer, and I have every intention of continuing to participate in its mission and activities as long as I can.”
