Paul Van Dam

Van Dam was born on October 15, 1937, to Richard Warren Van Dam and Geraldine (Gerry) Slade Van Dam. He was raised in Salt Lake City and pursued music from an early age at the encouragement of his mother after his father bought him a guitar. He performed in many groups during his musical career and continued with his music during his retirement in Ivins, Utah where he performed for the Southern Utah Veterans Home and at fund raising events.

He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for a good deal of his life. In 1957 he served a missionary for the LDS Church in the Netherlands. There he witnessed how people lived in an “environmentally-friendly” manner and with great acceptance of different life-styles, which affected his philosophy of life from then on. Later in life, he resigned from the church.

During Paul's early years, he worked as an iron worker, following in his father's footsteps. That work taught Paul lessons: the value of the work, how hard it was, and that he didn't want to grow old doing it. Serving as a court reporter in a JAG unit during his military service caught his interest and led to his desire to attend law school.

Paul married Mary Lynne Palmer of Farmington, New Mexico in 1964. They divorced in 1982. They had two children, Michael Andrew[7] and Julie Elizabeth. He has one grandson, Carson Janke. Paul retired in 1999. In 2004, Paul married Mary Dawn Bailey, who had three children from a previous marriage. Mary Dawn died in March 2007 after an 18-month bout with brain cancer.[8]

Van Dam continued his public service in a variety of ways during his retirement and following his 2004 run for the U.S. Senate. His great love for and appreciate of the outdoors and Utah's public lands led him to be an outspoken advocate for public lands and related issues. After Mary Dawn's death in early 2007, Paul's retirement led him to Southern Utah where he became involved in conservation issues revolving around water and public land issues. He served as Executive Director of Citizens for Dixie's Future (later renamed Conserve Southwest Utah[9]), from 2008 to 2010, ran for Washington County Commissioner in 2014[10] on a “conservation” platform in a very conservative area of Utah, and was called upon at various times to testify for Congress[11] on these issues.

In 2016, after having resigned as executive director of the organization but remaining as an advisor, he was asked to give testimony at a Congressional hearing in St. George, Utah, before the Subcommittee on Federal Lands[12] about a proposed road called the "Northern Corridor" through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area,[13] formerly part of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve,[14] a habitat created in 1996 for the protection of threatened and endangered species.

In 2018, Van Dam joined the CSU board. Soon after that the Northern Corridor issue was elevated from a local issue to the national level through legislation sponsored by Congressman Chris Stewart, H.R. 5597.[15] Once again, Van Dam was called upon to testify and did so at a Washington, D.C., Congressional hearing May 22, 2018, before the Subcommittee on Federal Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources.[16]

In 2008 when he became Executive Director of CDF, he met board member Lisa Abel Rutherford. They spend their retirement years fighting conservation battles and enjoying their retirement years with his music. He shares his music with others in his Southern Utah community when asked to perform at events and does a monthly presentation at the Southern Utah Veterans Home.

• Biography