Nan Hunter Walnut, 86, environmental leader

 Though a transplant from the Philadelphia suburbs, Nan Hunter Walnut was as much a creature of the New Jersey Pinelands as the deer drifting past her windows, the quail skittering through the brush, or the raccoons poking around her porch.

She moved to 20 wild acres in Southampton Township, Burlington County, in 1970, as development bore down on the forest. She soon became one of the most persistent and persuasive voices among the Pine Barrens' first-generation citizen activists.

Mrs. Walnut kept up her spirited defense of the land for the next 40 years. Her centerpiece victory was the state Pinelands Preservation Act of 1979, which she helped formulate for Gov. Brendan P. Byrne. She also was a founding trustee of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, an advocacy group that has grown to 3,400 member households.

Mrs. Walnut died on Sunday, March 3, at Crestwood Manor in Whiting, a senior community where she spent the last two years.

She was 86, a revered figure in South Jersey conservation circles, and, until cancer recently overtook her, a force of nature who spoke her mind to anyone willing to listen - and many not so willing.

Alliance executive director Carleton Montgomery called her "my conscience." Strategy discussions on what issues to tackle and how, he said, are best begun by asking, "What would Nan do?"

Mrs. Walnut had a life partner in battle. Husband Richard, who died a year ago, took up the cudgels for not only the Pinelands but also peace, often demonstrating along Jersey roadsides.

They also shared a love of dogs, especially the unloved. He co-owned a canine-themed collectibles shop, Walnut Miniatures, in Barnegat Light. Her wallet bulged with photos of every dog they ever had.

Mrs. Walnut spent half her life on the other side of the Delaware. She was born in Abington, grew up in Jenkintown, and graduated from Jenkintown High School in 1944.

After business school, she worked 20 years for the oil company that became Atlantic Richfield, rising to supervisor.

The Walnuts married in 1960, and 10 years later, bought a tract dense with pines on Burr's Mill Brook. They cleared just enough for a small house.

Southampton Township was experiencing growing pains, which Mrs. Walnut saw firsthand because she began going to every planning board meeting.

In 1976, she was invited in as the first female member - "the biggest surprise I ever had," she said in a 1984 interview. She thought she might have been "too controversial" a pick: "An environmentalist was a newfangled thing on a planning board."

She kept her seat until 2003, and was at one point chairwoman.

By the time the Walnuts moved to the Pinelands, opposition was coalescing to a proposed jetport, and attendant city, that would have straddled Burlington and Ocean Counties, and the pygmy pine forest.

Mrs. Walnut "jumped into the movement," said Nancy Buchanan, a friend and Pinelands volunteer.

A woman of regal bearing (and bawdy humor), "she stood up to officials who talked down to her. She wasn't having any of it. I just wanted to cheer."

With the Byrne administration in 1974, Trenton became a more amiable place for Mrs. Walnut and compatriots. In 1977, Byrne put a moratorium on Pine Barrens development, and named her to his Pinelands Review Committee, which set parameters for the law passed two years later.

Also in 1977, Mrs. Walnut helped found the Pine Barrens Coalition, an amalgam of activist groups. It, in turn, was absorbed into the new Pinelands Preservation Alliance in the late 1980s, with dedicated staff and fund-raising abilities.

Once the state law was passed and the Pinelands secure, she became more watchdog than warrior.

"She was then an outside observer," said the alliance's Montgomery, "a supporter and a critic."

She is survived by a niece, two nephews, and many grandnieces and grandnephews.

A memorial service is planned for noon Saturday, April 13 at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, 17 Pemberton Rd., Southampton, N.J. 08088.

Donations may be made to the alliance or to a favorite animal charity.