Chaney, Ed
Biographical note
James Edward “Ed” Chaney was born in Rolla, Missouri, in 1941, and grew up in the Ozarks. He attended the Missouri School of Mining and Metallurgy for one semester, then worked for the B&O railroad in St. Louis. He later earned a bachelor’s degrees in English and Conservation at the Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. He then worked as an information officer for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources until 1965. A year later, he began working for the Oregon Fish Commission. From 1969 to 1972, he worked for the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, D.C. He then moved to Eagle, Idaho, and in 1976, he founded the Northwest Resource Information Center, a non-profit organization that conducts and publicizes research regarding natural resource management in the Pacific Northwest. He also served as president of Chinook Northwest, a natural resource consulting firm. In the 2010s, he moved to Laguna Vista, Texas. Chaney died in 2025.
Sources: Information provided by Chaney in his interview; Chaney's resume on the Northwest Resource Information Center website (accessed November 2025), https://www.nwric.org/Ed_Chaney_Resume_full_2.3.21.htm; "James Chaney Obituary," Idaho Statesman, May 15, 2025 (accessed November 2025), https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/idahostatesman/name/james-chaney-obituary?id=58450528.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Oral history interview with Ed Chaney
Oral history interview with Ed Chaney, conducted by Clark Hansen in two sessions, on May 4 and May 5, 1998, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral Histories Series. Chaney, founder of the Northwest Resource Information Center, discusses his opposition to the fish conservation policies of the organizations that manage the Columbia River Basin and the dams in the basin.