June 3, 2019
It is not only the Sierra Club’s mission to preserve and protect the environment; it is also our goal to explore and enjoy our natural spaces as much as possible. This month’s spotlight volunteer Tom Lum Forest knows this all too well and that is why he is one of the Oregon chapter’s most active Outings Leaders. Tom has led Outings since March 2006 and last year alone, he led 20 hikes with a total attendance of 232 people, including 78 attendees and 39 newcomers!
As his father was in and out of the U.S. Army, Tom grew up moving from place to place. Born in El Paso in 1958, Tom lived there twice as well as Ft. Sill, OK and Portland, OR. Tom developed his love of nature early on in his childhood - chasing lizards in El Paso, going after frogs and crawdads behind his grade school, and enjoying the hikes and campouts while in the Boy Scouts. After graduating from Hillsboro High School in 1976, he went off to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and obtained a degree in System Dynamics (Management). He lived there for the next 20 years before his return to Oregon in 1997.
A lifetime Sierra Club member since 1996, Tom quickly became involved with the Oregon chapter and was active in multiple roles. He served on the interim Steering Committee for the Columbia Group as well as the Oregon chapter Executive Committee from 2015 through 2018. Now he serves as the Chapter Outings Chair, leading most of the outings within the Portland/Vancouver area. In his fourteen seasons as a Sierra Club Outings Leader, Tom has led a grand total of 162 hikes!
As an Outings Leader, Tom aims to bring people out to fully explore and enjoy of the planet. His focus is to be a thoughtful and gracious host on his hikes. Occasionally doing a few trail talks on nature and the environment, Tom makes plenty of time on his hikes to enjoy the views, smell the flowers, and take photographs. “People will protect the things they love,” he insisted, adding that bringing people outdoors is the only way to create and nurture that love for the planet. “If even only a little of my love of nature rubs off on my guests, I’ve led a successful hike.”
One of his hard and fast rules, however, is that his guests eat dinner together with him at the end of their hikes. “No dinner, no hikes” is a non-negotiable. Otherwise, he gladly invites anyone to join him in future Sierra Club outings!
Fun facts about Tom:
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Besides hiking, one of Tom’s greatest passions is music. He is an avid musician whose talents extend to a range of instruments and he still takes regular guitar lessons in Portland. Check out his music here.
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Tom has witnessed two historic Northwest natural events in his lifetime. His earliest dateable memory as a child was the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 which was as strong as a Category 3 hurricane with 100+ mph winds in Portland. Years later, while living in Hillsboro in 1980, Tom witnessed St. Helen’s eruption.
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While a student of Hillsboro High School, Tom was an Outdoor School counselor three times.
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Tom’s father was born and raised in Hilo, Hawai’i, coming from a native Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, and European background. He came to the Mainland to study at Reed College. Tom’s mother was born and raised in Vancouver, WA but her grandparents came from Wisconsin with businessman and philanthropist Simon Benson.
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For the past 10 years, Tom has lived on 2.76 acres at 1,300’ in the Coast Range just seven miles west of Banks, OR.