Peter Fort Stickney

Peter Fort Stickney died of natural causes on September 29, 2023 at the age of 94. He was born to Clinton and Katherine Stickney in Los Angeles, CA on March 2, 1929. Peter grew up in Long Beach, CA with his younger sisters Patricia and Nancy. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947 then attended Long Beach City College. In 1950 after discovering an interest in forestry, he transferred to the University of Idaho in Moscow where he was admitted to the School of Forestry and the ROTC program. While attending the U of I, he met Suzann Moore, his future wife. Following his graduation in 1953, Peter commissioned as an officer in the US Army and trained in the 82nd Airborne Division where he completed 31 parachute jumps and trained as an Army Ranger at Ft.  Benning, GA. In the summer of 1954 while on leave, he married Suzann Moore in Boise, ID. Peter and Suzann then moved to Ft. Bragg, NC where Peter completed his military service and was honorably discharged at the rank of 1st lieutenant in 1956.

In 1957 Peter began his career with the US Forest Service.  After a brief stint in Prairie City, OR Peter was transferred to Missoula, MT where he and Suzann would make their lifelong home. In 1958-59 they briefly relocated to Madison, WI where Peter completed a Master’s degree in Botany. Peter and Suzann had three children, Michael born in Ft. Bragg in 1955, and Daniel and Diana born in Missoula in 1960 and 1961.

During his nearly 40-year career with the US Forest Service, Peter studied range and wildlife habitats, post-fire forest succession, and curated the Missoula Research Center (MRC) Herbarium. Peter’s passion was native plants and post-fire forest ecology. He established plots after wild fires and carefully documented the regeneration of forest plant communities over subsequent years and decades. In 1995 Peter retired from the US Forest Service but continued to research one specific plot in northwest Montana through its 50th year of post-fire recovery. Peter was a consummate plant collector. He curated the MRC herbarium for nearly 60 years and contributed approximately 8,500 of its 16,000 specimens. Peter was instrumental in transferring the MRC collection to the current UM herbarium, single-handedly boxing specimens for its move to the Natural Sciences building on campus. He was a member of, and gave numerous presentations to, the Native Plant Society. He continued working on his plant collections with assistance from Ania Szmorlinski until shortly before his death. Throughout his life Peter was a champion of environmental, conservation, and social justice movements. Public lands and environment were very important to him.

Peter was preceded in death by his parents Clinton and Katherine, wife Suzann, sister Patricia, and son Daniel. He is survived by sister Nancy Sampson of Oakland, CA, son Michael (Debbie) Stickney of Butte, MT, daughter Diana (Mark) Wood of Victor, MT, daughter in law Michelle Stickney of Boise, ID, granddaughters Sarah (Josh) Henning of Seattle, WA, Emily Stickney (Brett) of San Antonio, TX, Jessica (Tom) Tolman-Stickney of Rapid City, SD, great granddaughter Junia Henning, and a niece and nephew. The family thanks Peter’s caregivers Ania, Ruth and Tami for their attentive care that allowed him to live at home and continue his work with plants until shortly before his death.

A remembrance of Peter is scheduled from 11 am to 1 pm on October 14th on the UM campus at the Native Plant Garden, which he helped to establish and maintain for over 30 years, located south of the Natural Sciences Building. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Friends of the Herbarium, MRC/MONTU Endowment: https://www.umt.edu/herbarium/friends-of-the-herbarium/support.php, or via mail, (U of M Foundation/Friends of UM Herbarium, 950 Arthur Ave., Missoula, MT 59812) or the Montana Native Plant Society https://mtnativeplants.org or (Montana Native Plant Society, PO Box 8783, Missoula, MT 59807).