Karl Urban

“A flower is an exquisite thing, beautiful and delicate, a harbinger of hope for the green world that lets us all survive.” – Karl Urban, 1983 Karl was born June 6, 1943 in Kimberly, Idaho. In 1962 he entered the botany program at the University of Idaho, earning both BS and MS degrees. In 1968 he began teaching botany at Blue Mountain Community College (BMCC), Pendleton.

In addition to his popular spring wildflower classes, he taught an intensive plant identification course at Steens Mountain during the summer. Karl was one of the founding members of the Blue Mountain Chapter of NPSO in the late 1970s. One of the highlights of Karl’s life was his sabbatical year (1988) at Oregon State University.

Although taking a full load of classes he announced to Dr. Chambers that he wished to compile a database of the flora of Oregon using the new computer technology. Working day and night for three terms, Karl built the foundation for our current Oregon Flora database, and planted the seeds for the Oregon Flora Project. In 1991 he became the botanist for the Umatilla National Forest. Karl completed a natural vegetation map and associated database for the forest. He cared a great deal about the forest resources and environment and had “botanized” essentially the entire Umatilla National Forest. In his free time over the years, Karl drew many of the Blue Mountain wildflowers as pages for coloring so children could learn of their natural heritage. He donated his drawings to the public domain so that others could share his appreciation and love of wildflowers.

Karl’s wildflower drawings and associated coloring guides have been viewed by over 60,000 visitors on the Plant Conservation Alliance’s website. Countless other children have delighted in the drawings through publications such as North Cascade Institute’s Celebrating Wildflowers Teacher’s Guide. In March 1999 at the 64th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, the USDA Forest Service (FS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) jointly awarded Karl a posthumous “Celebrating Wildflowers Award” for his outstanding contribution of wildflower drawings and other materials.

At the same meeting, Tom Fry (Acting Director, BLM) and Michael Dombeck (Director, USDA FS) announced plans for an interagency “Karl A. Urban Celebrating Wildflowers Award.”

– Jerry E. Baker, Blue Mountain Chapter