From Construction to Conservation: One Family’s Lifelong Connection to Libby Dam

LIBBY, Mont. — For some, Libby Dam is just a landmark. For others, it's a career. But for one Montana woman, it’s a legacy—one carved in concrete by her grandfathers and preserved today through environmental stewardship.

“If it weren’t for the construction of Libby Dam... I know for certain I wouldn’t be its natural resource manager. But more than that, I might not even exist,” she writes, reflecting on the foundation her family laid more than 50 years ago.

Her story begins with Donald “Whitey” Wilson, a Navy veteran and construction worker who joined Morrison-Knudsen in 1967 as a batch plant operator. Driving daily from Hungry Horse to Libby in a yellow 1949 Ford pickup—even in Montana winters—he helped build the dam that would later become part of his granddaughter’s life and career.

The family eventually moved to Libby permanently, and it was there that her father met her mother, whose own father—Don “Papa” Whitmarsh—was also a young equipment operator on the dam. Whitmarsh started in 1965 at just 22 years old and eventually joined the “Libby Dam Builders 595” crew.

“He worked on the railroad tunnel and Highway 37 before joining the Libby Dam Builders,” she recalls. “It was hard work, but there was plenty of fun too.” Like many workers, Papa Whitmarsh had fond memories of “Rockmunks”—chipmunks who begged for food near the job site—and a buzzing town filled with music, energy, and pride.

The family’s connection didn’t end when the dam was completed in 1975. The granddaughter entered the scene a generation later, taking a summer GS-02 clerk job at Libby Dam right after high school. Her tasks included archiving over 10,000 historic construction photos—a job that introduced her to the Corps’ environmental programs and set her on a path to becoming the facility’s natural resource manager.

“We’re now conducting the first large-scale Army Corps timber sale since the dam was built, a win-win for the forest and for public safety,” she said of a new wildfire prevention effort near Dunn Creek Campground.

She also leads the “Wood is Good” project, part of the Corps’ Engineering with Nature initiative, which restores critical fish habitat in the Kootenai River by reintroducing large woody debris that the dam otherwise blocks.

Today, Libby Dam remains a unique presence in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers portfolio. It’s one of the few hydropower sites still offering public tours, and it’s the only one designed by architect Paul Thiry, whose modernist design lacks traditional right angles.

“I remember being quite little, six or seven, and my dad propping me up on the sloped concrete ledges so I could peek over and look 422 feet down to the Kootenai River,” she said. “That angle—and that view—stuck with me.”

Both of her grandfathers had keepsakes from their dam days: buttons, union badges, and even a concrete core sample once used as a doorstop. Her own contribution? A signature etched inside Generator 8, preserved in Cosmoline grease: “Tana 2012–2017.”

Now, as Libby Dam marks its 50th anniversary, her work honors both the past and the future—maintaining the wild places surrounding the dam her family helped build.

“My main goal as the natural resource manager is to balance visitor experience with resource protection for future generations,” she said. It’s a role built on generations of grit, pride, and Montana mountain roots.

Originally reported by Nicole Celestine in DVIDS Hub.